Deftones - Koi No Yokan (24/02/2013)
This is the Deftones you have come to expect, no more and no less. From hitting you in the jaw with a wall of sound in Swerve City, to the landscapes of sound created through intricate guitar work and aptly placed palm muting. I reiterate, This is the Deftones you have come to expect, no more and no less.
Koi No Yokan will not surprise you, in the best possible way. Deftones tend to stray from too much variation, instead applying the tried and true formula they have effectively applied to previous records which ultimately makes Koi No Yokan a great record. With that being said, at certain points in the record, Deftones make a very nuanced tip of the hat to genres far gone from their own as if to say, “we can be different, we just don’t want to be”. Which, in a way, effectively sums up most of what Deftones represent.
Koi No Yokan really hits a sweet spot midway through the record with the pulsating delay and razor edged delivery of Entombed, a very dark exploration of the power that relationships can posses to entrap, or indeed entomb an individual. This is further complemented by Graphic Nature, a song that can only be described as an unrelenting numbing experience whose lyrical content is a continuation of that seen in Entombed, although progression is prevalent.
The overwhelming message from this record is that Deftones are not ready to change for the whims of popularity, never sacrificing their hard-boiled stoic facade. Deftones have remained unmolested by the winds of popular culture for the past twenty years and Koi No Yokan is a message to fans that this will remain a stead-fast constant. You need not look further than the less-than-contemporary fashion sense of the band for this point to ring true. Deftones are currently a band that you can rely on to make a solid record.
James Versluis
Koi No Yokan will not surprise you, in the best possible way. Deftones tend to stray from too much variation, instead applying the tried and true formula they have effectively applied to previous records which ultimately makes Koi No Yokan a great record. With that being said, at certain points in the record, Deftones make a very nuanced tip of the hat to genres far gone from their own as if to say, “we can be different, we just don’t want to be”. Which, in a way, effectively sums up most of what Deftones represent.
Koi No Yokan really hits a sweet spot midway through the record with the pulsating delay and razor edged delivery of Entombed, a very dark exploration of the power that relationships can posses to entrap, or indeed entomb an individual. This is further complemented by Graphic Nature, a song that can only be described as an unrelenting numbing experience whose lyrical content is a continuation of that seen in Entombed, although progression is prevalent.
The overwhelming message from this record is that Deftones are not ready to change for the whims of popularity, never sacrificing their hard-boiled stoic facade. Deftones have remained unmolested by the winds of popular culture for the past twenty years and Koi No Yokan is a message to fans that this will remain a stead-fast constant. You need not look further than the less-than-contemporary fashion sense of the band for this point to ring true. Deftones are currently a band that you can rely on to make a solid record.
James Versluis