REVIEWED: Diamond Eyes by Deftones
It was a quiet night - disturbed only once in a while by the sound of people chattering from afar. I was ready to settle in for the night with Salleh Ben Joned in hand. But right before I dive in into the ocean of His Sullied Greatness literary outpour, I popped in a CD into the CD player. Ten seconds in and I was greeted by a sudden jerking noise: welcome ladies and gentleman to Diamond Eyes, Deftones' sixth studio release, and for history purpose, the one which Chi Cheng is sorely missed.
The one thing that everyone (and I mean everyone who has not yet listened to the album) should be aware of is the fact that this album was not written in the aftermath of their bassists car accident. Many are already aware of the story of the making of this album: planned and worked on EROS, slated for a 2008 release, when suddenly a tragedy befalls on one of the group member; the band felt it is not 'okay' to continue working on it with one member missing; ditched the whole thing and quite literally, began on a whole new project with a supporting bassist in tow, and voila, Diamond Eyes. Judging from that story, one has the tendency to think and feel as if this album was written in remembrance of that event. You would think that this album was written somewhat to be like a tribute to Chi. Well I have to admit that feeling is quite strong and hard to be ignored.
I'm not the kind of person who is very big on emotions (I am well known for my poker face - not that I play poker anyway) but I can sense that in times like that, people has the tendency to go soft and mushy (or insecure) in their retrospective. We become introvert - everything then was viewed from inside out, not the usual other way around. Suddenly, everything, even the tiniest and littlest of details become hugely significant and meaningful and deep. And not to bang on other people but at times, deep stuff are amazing stuff. But because of the image of 'cool muse' is always associated with being deep, many people start to develop a false sense of deepness. They are all broody, and gloomy, and philosophical, and technical, thinking that they are getting away with being a 'cool muse' just by pretending to be deep.
One of the most annoying aspect of these deep pretenders is their inclination to talk about themselves. Their emotions, their desires, their pain, their anger, their happiness, their sadness... thank God they did not delve on their Freudian psyche as well. And that brings us to the strongest point about this album - it doesn't try to be deep and psychological about the whole event. What greeted listeners instead was full of expression of space, and colours, and shapes. They are all visual images. And it all comes together not as an explanation of a visual imagery of what Chino Moreno had in his mind but instead he invites the listener to explore the whole expanse of his psyche. What you will find here is not expression of guilt, and anguish, and despair, and hopelessness; no. What you'll find here instead is hope, and rejoice, and elation. Chino doesn't whine and gripe and moan and mope his way around, but he is just being at complete ease with himself. It's like he's accepting his fate in life and just carry on with it like it's not a problem at all.
There are traces of Around the Fur and White Pony moment in this album, like for instance the second track "Royal". It's a savage attack from the jump, proceeded by two tracks with unnerving energy, "CMND/CTRL" and "You've Seen the Butcher", which made the whole journey a bit more nice as it greets "Beauty School". It's a really beautiful song this - the chorus soars like a newborn bird that is about to take on its maiden flight, greeted by the warm sunlight, streaking from a cloud. And to complement the whole experience, the closer "This Place is Death" is where the baby bird is already afloat in the air as it explores the world from above. Really, this album is not for emo/screamo/goth kids looking for their next emotional trash outpour fodder. This album is for people who are looking for hope and the beauty in life. This album is more suited to Sir Thomas Malory's fan rather than fans of Edgar Allan Poe.
The last album by Deftones that I really liked was White Pony, the album that perfectly encapsulates the whole passive aggressive notion. Their subsequent two albums, the self-titled one and Saturday Night Wrist, though a commendable effort on their own, falls short of being purposeful or having any focal direction. Diamond Eyes on the other hand feels pretty much like Arcade Fire's debut - it is focused, it knows its motivation, and it exists itself to be purposeful. In other word: it's effing brilliant.
It was a quiet night - disturbed only once in a while by the sound of people chattering from afar. I was ready to settle in for the night with Salleh Ben Joned in hand. But right before I dive in into the ocean of His Sullied Greatness literary outpour, I popped in a CD into the CD player. Ten seconds in and I was greeted by a sudden jerking noise: welcome ladies and gentleman to Diamond Eyes, Deftones' sixth studio release, and for history purpose, the one which Chi Cheng is sorely missed.
The one thing that everyone (and I mean everyone who has not yet listened to the album) should be aware of is the fact that this album was not written in the aftermath of their bassists car accident. Many are already aware of the story of the making of this album: planned and worked on EROS, slated for a 2008 release, when suddenly a tragedy befalls on one of the group member; the band felt it is not 'okay' to continue working on it with one member missing; ditched the whole thing and quite literally, began on a whole new project with a supporting bassist in tow, and voila, Diamond Eyes. Judging from that story, one has the tendency to think and feel as if this album was written in remembrance of that event. You would think that this album was written somewhat to be like a tribute to Chi. Well I have to admit that feeling is quite strong and hard to be ignored.
I'm not the kind of person who is very big on emotions (I am well known for my poker face - not that I play poker anyway) but I can sense that in times like that, people has the tendency to go soft and mushy (or insecure) in their retrospective. We become introvert - everything then was viewed from inside out, not the usual other way around. Suddenly, everything, even the tiniest and littlest of details become hugely significant and meaningful and deep. And not to bang on other people but at times, deep stuff are amazing stuff. But because of the image of 'cool muse' is always associated with being deep, many people start to develop a false sense of deepness. They are all broody, and gloomy, and philosophical, and technical, thinking that they are getting away with being a 'cool muse' just by pretending to be deep.
One of the most annoying aspect of these deep pretenders is their inclination to talk about themselves. Their emotions, their desires, their pain, their anger, their happiness, their sadness... thank God they did not delve on their Freudian psyche as well. And that brings us to the strongest point about this album - it doesn't try to be deep and psychological about the whole event. What greeted listeners instead was full of expression of space, and colours, and shapes. They are all visual images. And it all comes together not as an explanation of a visual imagery of what Chino Moreno had in his mind but instead he invites the listener to explore the whole expanse of his psyche. What you will find here is not expression of guilt, and anguish, and despair, and hopelessness; no. What you'll find here instead is hope, and rejoice, and elation. Chino doesn't whine and gripe and moan and mope his way around, but he is just being at complete ease with himself. It's like he's accepting his fate in life and just carry on with it like it's not a problem at all.
There are traces of Around the Fur and White Pony moment in this album, like for instance the second track "Royal". It's a savage attack from the jump, proceeded by two tracks with unnerving energy, "CMND/CTRL" and "You've Seen the Butcher", which made the whole journey a bit more nice as it greets "Beauty School". It's a really beautiful song this - the chorus soars like a newborn bird that is about to take on its maiden flight, greeted by the warm sunlight, streaking from a cloud. And to complement the whole experience, the closer "This Place is Death" is where the baby bird is already afloat in the air as it explores the world from above. Really, this album is not for emo/screamo/goth kids looking for their next emotional trash outpour fodder. This album is for people who are looking for hope and the beauty in life. This album is more suited to Sir Thomas Malory's fan rather than fans of Edgar Allan Poe.
The last album by Deftones that I really liked was White Pony, the album that perfectly encapsulates the whole passive aggressive notion. Their subsequent two albums, the self-titled one and Saturday Night Wrist, though a commendable effort on their own, falls short of being purposeful or having any focal direction. Diamond Eyes on the other hand feels pretty much like Arcade Fire's debut - it is focused, it knows its motivation, and it exists itself to be purposeful. In other word: it's effing brilliant.
Labels: deftones
posted by Hafeez at 7:09 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks a lot for the support
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