Deftones Album: “Adrenaline”

If I could give an album more than five stars this definitely would be it. The singing is nothing short of magnificant. Chino Moreno is the BEST vocalist in the world. He can sing, rap, scream and do everything a singer should be able to do. Adrenaline also has some of the best guitarring ever. Stephen Carpenter and Chi Cheng make the perfect guitarring pair. their guitars show much originality and quality. Every riff is different from the other. They can be fast and pulsating or slow and melodious. The drumming, it can be said , works closely with the guitarring. Abe is an excellent drummer but it is clear that his role is to emulate the guitars. Deftones take a bow, Adrenaline is one of the best albums out there. Best tracks:bored Engine No. 9, Root, 7 Words and Minus Blindfold

The Deftones first album "Adrenaline" is very different from the Deftones we are now used to today. "Adrenaline" is a straight-forward metal album. No experiments, no electronics or anything that the Deftones are widely known for today, just rock. This release is more in tune with "Around The Fur", which I think is the Deftones' best. This one came out in the height of the nu-metal explosion, which the Deftones were partly responsible for. Deftones were one of the first bands, beside Korn, to play what was known as "nu-metal" and they were doing it long before Korn ever got together, even though this one came out a year after Korn's debut. There was a lot of things to me that made the Deftones better than most of the other nu-metal bands out there, mainly being Chino. Chino is such a great vocalist, and I've always prefered him over others like Jon Davis and Fred Durst. Not to mention his lyrics have always been a cut above the others, not just doing the same old topics that eventually became done to death in the genre. The rest of the band isn't too shabby on their instruments either. If you're a fan of the Deftones, it's nice to see where they came from, and how they've evolved over the years.

The album opens up with one of the Deftones' classic songs, "Bored". Introducing the "soft verse, loud chorus" approach that would later become a staple for their, most other nu metal bands, material. This is where the Deftones show what they're all about. Most of the album follows this pattern, like "Lifter" and "Root". Some tend to use rapping approaches (which would become yet another staple in nu-metal) like "7 words" and "Engine #9". One of the highlights (and my favorite moment on the entire album) is on "7 Words" when the music stops just before the bridge, and Chino says "you don't know me, shut up you don't know me, squeel like a pig...", you know the rest. It's just so good before it goes back into the song. Some songs see the Deftones slowing it down a bit, and getting very melodic only to turn into fierce bursts, most notably "One Weak" and "Fireal". The untitled hidden track (which is really called "Fist") is a hauting, extremely light song which mainly features Chino mumbling and Stephen playing guitar, and is quite good once you listen to it. Most songs on the cd however see the band going to heavy route, showing their metal influence, that would later only be used in small doses. The album also features a great deal or screaming which is not nearly used as much in later albums. Compared to the Deftones releases of today, this one does not even stand up in the diversity department, because really the only thing they do different is slow down songs like "Fireal" and "One Weak". Even with the lack of diversity (which I love about the newer albums) the collection of songs on here will please any fan of the band, especially those who love "Around The Fur". Fans of new releases like "White Pony" and the self-titled might just want to check it out for nostalgic purposes. I fell in love with this album years ago, and still I find myself listening to it and loving it just the same. It's so good, and that's the way it's always been with the Deftones. Everything they've ever done has been great, and this album is no exception.

Definitely a worth while addition to any Deftones fans collection. Most won't be dissapointed with this one. I know that if you're a Deftones fan, then most likely you already own this one. However if you're someone who has recently got into the band, then don't hesitate to pick this one up and add it to your collection. The Deftones never make the same album twice, so it make "Adrenaline" even more essential. The things that made the Deftones amazing back then, are still the things that make them amazing today, and it's great to see those things in an early form. It's cool to remember when the Deftones were one of the front runners in nu-metal. Now they deny all association with the genre. However this one will always remain as one of the most influential nu-metal albums out there, and really you can't do any better.

When you own an album such as this one, and you play it over and over and over again, and it never seems as if you can play it out, you've got a classic on your hands. The Deftones are the best band out there in their category. They arent sellouts, they are true to their fans, and they make great music without following trends. Buy this album if you are sick of everything else and you want to hear something pure and distinctive.

This big-label debut from a Sacramento-based Deftones always takes me ten years back, when I went to high school. But despite that, the album still sounds very original, and unfortunately for the music industry - very unlike the stuff you hear today. Their style is impossible to describe, because all descriptions fall short of actually hearing the band. Combining the emotional openness of pop, the teen rage of punk, and the street-smart culture of hip-hop, the Deftones painted a perfect soundscape for the bored youth of sunny suburban wastelands. Chino Moreno masterfully navigates his voice through a range emotions of a growing soul - from innocent love to dark fantasies, from hope to despair, from vulnerability to cruelty. Angelic soft whispers mutate into demonic screams, and hip-hop-influenced verses give way to Depeche Mode-like melodic choruses.

Musically Deftones sound quite hard, but not in a boring kind of way. Their music is fun, groovy, and has a great sense of beat. Bassist Chi plays creative, almost jazz-like lines, Abe Cunningham provides effective drums, while Steve Carpenter very masterfully blasts with simple but loud and chilling riffs. DJ Frank Delgado enhances the sound with sparse atmospheric effects and scratches. The whole band sound is really an attempt to unite a variety of cultural influences so common in the California Central Valley, and it pays off very well. The production could be more refined, but at the same time the roughness adds more fun to the first public effort.

I love this album, this and Tools Aenima was the main influences for the band I played in at '96. It has meant very much for me over the years. I love the mood this record gets you in. To call this Nu-metal is wrong I think, the genre didn't exist at the time it was made and I don't want to put it in the same genre as alot of bands that doesn't have the same quality as Deftones. The sound is abit rough, but I like that. That puts the focus more on the songs and the lyrics, which are great. At the beginning of owning this album Root was my favourite, but now I think it's Minus Blindfold or Lifter. The music isn't technically advanced, and I think that's good, actually. Music is about feeling, and you should do what it takes to convey the feelings you want to convey. To play advanced stuff just because you're able isn't good. Then you're just showing off, forgetting about the point of it all. I give this album a 5, because of the historical aspect of it, and the fact that they are masters of setting the mood and expressing strong feelings. Along with Tool Deftones is the best metal band out there, period.