Pros: The album that changed everything.
Tracks drop like H-BOMBS.
Very tight and reinforced song structure
Cons: Might take some time to truly appreciate the album and its intimacy, but who cares!!!
The Bottom Line: Deftones Sophomore outing has permanently confirmed their destiny by going beyond all expectations to produce an album as intimidating as falling in love with a stripper. Please buy this
bequietnddrive's Full Review: Around the Fur [PA] by Deftones
There was once a time, where I was not really keen on the deftones at all. I didnt HATE them, and I dont know what it was, maybes it was because I never heard them properly or give them the time of day, but there was something about them which made them not very enjoyable to listen to. The first single I ever heard by them was My Own Summer which was included in the Matrix album that I had purchased while strolling around the Soundtrack section of my local store. I wasn't very impressed at all and therefore skipped this track. What was even more foolish (god forgive me) was that I thought the vocals were that of a women moaning some sort of dribble. I didnt really care to be honest cause I was too busy getting into Rob zombies snake crawling dragula tune. This was around 4 (million)years ago and of course as always a billion things can happen in that time, of course within this time I have completely changed my opinions and altered the way I thought as a person thanks to the bands which have been added to my collection over the years, I like to at least think that I have a wide scope of variety within my 50 or so (at the minute collection) with various downloaded mp3's (sshhhhhh!!!), from NU-METAL to Industrial, To Punk and Emo and Prog rock You name it I have it. It was around some time later which I saw the single change on mtv2 at the time and featured the as yet to me named Chino Moreno moaning as usual but I was surprised to find out that the ramblings were of an intelligent and deep passionate man, and like I said in the review of The Deftones-DEFTONES the voice does certainly not fit his face which is quite creepy as if he was being possessed by some demonic spawn of evil such as encountered in the exorcist. He was just another lets pull our faces in the most rediculous fashion as possible.
I wasnt really ready for the heavy deep stuff at that time and I was using Industrial Rock aka the Nine Inch Nails Fragile album that my friend conveniantly copied for me as a sort of Bridge to crossover but at that time I just wasnt ready for that kind of mental assault on the ears that I could actually enjoy, Im not saying I couldnt handle it and im not a wuss either.
It just didnt appeal to me at that time. Now when I finally clicked with the Fragile everything seemed to begin to open up for me, the music from other bands was beginning to make sense and so I started to watch Kerrang more as all my friends were getting into the alternative music scene just like me. I started to buy albums which I saw the videos of on Kerrang such as Adema, Linkin Park and all though they were excellent at the time, I wanted to go all out deeper than this, a lot deeper and by this time it was 2002 sometime in February. I wanted to see if there was any new songs on mtv2 then all of a sudden the video for change appeared again, and this time it just clicked, maybes I was more aware of the lyrics than anything else but it sounded f'''''g cool thats for sure.
After I listened to White Pony I kind of forgot about deftones for a while, well for a week anyway, I was watching the kerrang top 20 on mtv2 and I was getting seriously bored. Then all of a sudden something started playing on TV and I think this was number 6 at the time from 20, I heard this cool distortion being played and saw this long dark tunnel which the camera was obviously zooming in and out using that special background gets closer cool effect, then all of a sudden four guys and a drum kit with 2 amplifier arrays appeared out of nowehere, 2 of them you couldnt even see their faces cause of the long black dreads ( Later known as Stephen carpenter on guitar and Chi cheng on Bass) some blonde guy on drums (Abe Cunningham)and this guy with longish spikey hair with cool dark clothes looking straight at me. It was weird because they were unrecognisable to me, yet I thought to myself, I know this band, and the singer did appear familiar, deftones went through my mind but they would never do this kind of style (from what the material I had heard anyway), surely enough the titles came up and it was deftones, BE QUIET AND DRIVE suddenly the muusic everything kicked in, my jaw then just dropped.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE DEALING WITH HERE???
Around the Fur is the sequel in the deftones saga to the highly underated debut album adrenaline and with long time friend and producer Terry date and has so far been characterised as the album that broke the deftones through to the mainstream as well as 500 miles above that to come out on top of everyone else, beating emotionally idle bands like KORN to submission. Im not dissing KORN here they are a great band and I will be revieiwng their albums in the future with good intentions but with the deftones you get something more as well as just some cool noise, you get something deeper, more intellectual, kind of like that weird kid who hangs around in the corner of the school yard talking to himself. Only now that weird kid has grown up, into a more powerful force that you and I can possibly imagine.
Well as you can tell as I saw the video Be quiet and drive by the third time I needed to get the album with that song on alone, I didnt care if all the other songs were sub-standard I just wanted it for myself so I could listen to it again and again, and again. I found said album again at my local store and saw the women looking all puurrrity in her swimsuit on the cover, I couldnt wait to get home to see what I had discovered 74 minutes later (I can explain that dont worry). So indeed let the games (and the emotional penetration begin.)
Ok Around the Fur welcomes you buy treating you to the very first deftones single straight away, it is quite abnormal but not uncommon to have a single at the start of the album, this I beleive was an excellent decision on Terry dates part as well as the deftones as I will explain. Track 6 is undeniably the best track on the album and it is a powerful, superior yet captivating tune and to put another single as deep within the LP as such a level of standard as BE QUIET will cause the lesser song to become weaker and more unheard because of this track eclipsing the other tracks, most producers seem to manage their bands by placing all their singles near the middle of the album to keep the structure well intact and to stop the album from losing momentum, however the loophole here is that if you have a very overpowering track, (Be quiet) the rules can go out the window and you can place a killer track right at the start of the album which will definatley catch peoples interest on a first listen basis. Thats some genius me thinks and makes for a rediculously tight and fast flowing start to a fuel guzzling jet propelled album.
MY OWN SUMMER starts with a bang as two beats of the drum are played before STEPHENS ever popular riff kicks in, this instantly hits you in the face as a great song to head bang your windows to. Chinos voice has to be heard to be believed and it was on this track where I thought he was actually the female of the species but you can see why as he perfectly mimics the delicate vocals of the Female. Apparently in one of his interviews he said that he admires the beauty of female singers and hence his voice when jamming with the deftones is to try and mimic the awesome talent of the gentle but high pitched vocals of the female voice box. He almost pulls it off as well. Scary
HEY YOU/BIG STAR/TELL ME/WHEN ITS OVER
The combination of Chi's bass and Stephens strings get heavier at this point as the foundations of the chorus are played minus Chinos voice.
HEY/YOU BIG MOOD/GUIDE ME TO SHELTER/
The chorus then kicks in
COME/SHOVE IT SHOVE IT SHOVE IT/SHOVE/THE SUN/ASIDE
Chino apprently is not on best terms with the sun, which I can see his point, for one thing it can be seen as an invasion of space and a major agitation to some people who have sensitive skin, for one thing I am one of them, the sun is Ok when it is not at its peak point in the sky (no shadow time) or close to the horizon, (driving is a real b'''h with the sun in your face, it can bypass even the most effective shades). Basically he wants the sun to go away and talks about how the shade can be used as a form of shelter or poretection to gat away from this giant burning white mass of chaos.
THE SHADE IS A TOOL/A DEVICE/A SAVIOUR
The next track, LHABIA is a general straightfoward strumming of STEPTHS guitar and Abes rabbit thumpin beats. which sounds pretty cool
SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE/THERE ARE TRICKS/EVIL/HOLLER DOWNSTAIRS
It seems that for some part of the song Chinos stays pretty close to the mic as if he whispers one part of the lyrics then suddenly screams, but a kind of screaming that does not hurt your ears.
The next track, MASCARA is an odd one, but one of my favourite tracks on the album, I think again I might like the scenario that Chino is describing but it seems to be a pretty cool track. Basically it has no real structure and kind of starts off slow with the Stephen slowly strumming the guitar. Then Abe and Chi kick in with Chino
I FEEL SOON/I WILL SINK INTO YOU/WHADDYA THINK
THERE STILL BLOOD/IN YOUR HAIR/GOT THE BRUISE OF THE YEAR
This track is about Chinos wife, describing his past encounter with her, the fights and her imperfections but regardless of all the crap he has had to put up with he still would want to become one with her and together they can put their differences aside. Its a pertty cool experimental track, but some might find it pointless as it simply dies away and is too slow paced for the albums sonic death speed but my opinion is I'm liking it.
The title track AROUND THE FUR comes next allowing Abe to start off with a slow but constant drum/symbol tempo which prepares you for Stephens and Chinos introduction in which he sings
HEY VANITY THIS VIAL IS EMPTY/AND SO ARE YOU
The song then bolts into action with Chinos trademark screaming, many people call these Def screams and for good measure as the assault continues you can begin to tell how far the deftones sound has progressed, Chino sings more clearly than the debut as well as the guitar sounds that seems more defined and closer to the listener.
COMING BACK AROUND THE FUR
The album begins to pick up more pace and climbs closer to that ever important climax of the following track. RICKETS is a short but fast mover, As Abes drumming get more wrestless and heart-pounding forcefully tempting the guitar to play harder and faster simultaneously. There is more effects being used in the mix as Stephen demonstrates later on in the song,
ITS SO SIMPLE TO LOOK AT EVERY SINGLE THING I DO WRONG/ITS SO SIMPLE TO OVERLOOK EVERYTHING I DO RIGHT/
I THINK TOO MUCH TOO STUCK UP IM BORED TOO MUCH
This song seems to mostly impose the idea of someone getting sick of of the idea of not being perfect for someone who is critisizing him, and hes just sick of it.
As soon as RICKETS comes to a close we enter the true sound of the Deftones and the core of the album, a gentle distortion is placed upon us for 20 seconds, a sound which really is Stephens home brew perfection, let the fireworks begin. Everybody kicks in apart from chino in which he comes in at around 50 seconds into the song, at this point you just have to admire Stephens guitar work, this is why people say he has rewritten the guitar rulebook, and believe it or not this song just uses 2 chords and is a treat to here since it appears more complex, but come on just 2 DAMN CHORDS. How he thought of that i have got no clue, probably the constant binge smoking of joints and smack that he has smoked since he was young maybes told him EUREKA!!! I dont know.
THIS TOWN DONT FEEL MINE/IM FAST TO GET AWAY FAR
BE QUIET AND DRIVE (Far away) is one of those songs that is so catchy and finger clicking good you just want to listen to it again and again. The song features Chinos voice in a sort of perfect version of the previous former tracks, he actually sings the song with sheer will power and you can tell by the expressions in his face that he is always fighting with his body for control of the sound(funny faces) and let me tell you something, boy can this guy sing on this track, this seems to also be the blueprint for the style of singing that he uses on WHITE PONY ala DIGITAL BATH, hence he must have been able to train his voice over the years and evolve it into the siren voice he has at present. During the chorus Stephen bends the strings and through all the equipment he uses it sounds utterly mesmerising to experience which will give you goosebumps and get the blood rushing. The only downer to using this method is the recreation of the brilliance of the sound will be near impossible to recreate on a live performance as the perfecty sounding rooms of the studio during recording must have helped the song to sound perfect. You can probably tell if you have heard it live as I have that the song is heavily dependant on the acoustics of the location it is being played in, bnasically in a wide open space it sounds a bit pap, but in a small room such as a club room, it will most likely sound more nearer the mark, hands up anybody who listened to the deftones when they did that major (lets not tell anyone where where going within 3 days of playing) club run that they organised earlier this year.
I DRESSED HER IN YOUR CLOTHES NOW DRIVE ME FAR AWAY/I DONT CARE WHERE JUST FAR/I DONT CARE
At the climax of the song the guitars and rums thump in an intermittent blast with Carpenter using a set of harmonics within the drum beats with Chino impressively screaming as loud as possible. Brilliance. It is the longest song on the album and just edges over 5 minutes long and actually fades away like a classic rock song which is a nice touch as they probably already know they were onto something when they wrote this jewel of a tune.
Later on in the album we come across a song called DAI THE FLU, in which Chino is singing about how glad he is that his crush or someone he adores loves him back and he is also pleased that the person of his affection does not keep their feelings locked up or has a 'tight' personality if you know what I mean.
NOW I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE ME/THANK GOD THAT YOU LOVE AT ALL
Stephen really does make good use of the sound he crafts like a painter with his brush you can almost taste the atmosphere that is getting played across the the speakers.
HEADUP is a track where Chino and Ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera performed the song together with Max screaming soulfly (which soon after he started his own band named Soulfly, and yes he did get the idea from the lyrics)
This particular song teaches about no matter what happens in life you should aways live every day like it was your last and to go into every situation with your head up high.
ROCK INTO THIS WORLD WITH YOUR HEAD UP HIGH
XHinos vocals are more in tune for a sort of standard rap -metal not too similar to the rap-metal label of Linkin park, except this song seems to be more angry in tone.
WALK INTO THIS WORLD/ WITH YOUR HEAD UP HIGH
The last of the 'numbered' tracks is a little number called MX, which according to Chino is about a girl he was with and how he is mesmerised by her hypnotic actions.
YOURE SO SWEET/YOUR SMILE/YOUR P'''Y AND YOUR BONES/YOUR ON FIRE/YOU MOVE ME LIKE MUSIC/WITH YOUR STYLE
The guitars and Bass work well to provide a sea of relaxed conversation between Chino and Abe Cunninghams wife, Annalynn Cunningham. It works really wel as Chino lays down his intentions on the table.
LET ME THINK ABOUT GIRLS/AND MONEY/AND NEW CLOTHES/THIRTY NIGHTS OF VIOLENCE AND SUGAR
This track is a really cool, moody relaxed track which I like, as soon as the guitars cut out everything else follows, but I bet the display on your stereo will raise a few eyebrows as it keeps on ticking. Thats because there is a secret tune at the end of this track.
DAMONE is all about getting tired, possibly sick of a relationship. I discovered this track by accident, I left the stereo on when I went in the bath one morning and as soon as I got out to talk to my man I heard an odd noise, then guitars blazed into action, I got such a fright, I was like what the f''k???
SO FAR IVE BEEN DOWN THATS TRUE
Its a pretty cool track to have as the final closer of the album, cause for some reason MX didnt fit well, not truly which is why this album deserves the full score because of the hidden secrets like these.
Around the Fur is the work of an ever evolving band that has finally stepped foot out of the dark upon the barren musical landscape and spruced it up with their own ideals making for one hell of a joy ride, and one of the best albums of the period. Deftones truly are the biggest band in the world and these killer anthems proove that deftones will keep ascending to achieve their own destiny in the history books of Heavy rock.
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