Eighteen years on from their debut, Adrenaline, Deftones return with their seventh studio album Koi No Yokan (Love’s Premonition). The record sees the Sacramento natives return to some of their more textured and complex arrangements, first witnessed on 2002’s White Pony.
After bassist Chi Cheng’s almost fatal car crash in 2008 it was touch and go as to whether or not the band would continue. But with Cheng now in a partially conscious state and finally recovering at home, Deftones are living for the moment, finding new ways of expression and outlets for their collective heartache after coming so close to an abrupt end.
Before Cheng’s accident the band had been working on the follow up to 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist, which was to be called Eros. Plans for this album were subsequently shelved and all material left untouched. Diamond Eyes, their first album with new bassist Sergio Vega, saw the band return to the heaviness that first marked their arrival on the Sacramento music scene all those years ago. This evolution continues on Koi No Yokan. The blend of tried and tested fundamentals with masterful production skills is the reason Deftones sound fresh to this day.
As someone who got in to Deftones at age 15 they are now one of the few bands that I can turn back to ten years later and still find something contemporary about the sound. They are one of the surviving bands from the awful Nu Metal era that keep on pushing musical boundaries finding their place somewhere between the heavy and the beautiful.
Album opener Swerve City is textbook Deftones mixing the loose riffs of Stephen Carpenter’s now 8-string guitar with dissonant chord progressions, Abe Cunningham’s powerful drums and Chino Moreno ever evolving vocal techniques. This leads straight in to Romantic Dreams on which we hear Moreno sing: “Why wait to discover your dreams? Now is your chance.”
The first unofficial release “Leathers” is a celebration of evolution, a rallying call; “Wear your insides on the outside, show your enemy what you look like”. Moreno still has the ability to reach out and empower the listener; his vocals are truly majestic on this record.
They look fitter, healthier and have been producing records at a phenomenal rate, it’s only months since they stopped touring 2010’s Diamond Eyes and it seems as though they have had no time to stagnate. “Poltergeist” proceeds with distorted bass riffs over an army of handclaps and signature high-pitched lengthy vocals. ‘Entombed’ offers time for respite with a slow finger tapped guitar riff over muted electronic drums before the chorus kicks in with Moreno proclaiming, “shapes and colors’ are all I see”. Official lead single “Tempest” is a strange release choice; it lacks the immediacy of earlier tracks and tends to drags at times but at the core is an integral part of the album as a whole.
It is difficult to grasp the exact concept at the core of the record. There is a theme of the cyclical nature of life with a strong emphasis on growth and rebirth in a spiritual sense. Koi No Yokan is a phrase with no simple counterpart in the English language.
A Japanese concept, not too far removed from ‘love at first sight’, but with roots deeper in the idea of destiny, Koi No Yokan is the possibility of inevitable love between two people at a future stage. It is not uncommon for Deftones to operate between the lines of esotericism, this is where they have always tended to dwell.
The celebration continues on “Gauze” where Moreno screams, “I can’t stop what you begin” while the subtle but imperative sound manipulation of Frank Delgado really stands out in the mix. Delgado has always taken the back seat in most of Deftones undertakings but has found a new lease of life on recent releases swapping out turntables for a rack of keyboards and synths. “Goon Squad” is Moreno’s two fingers to those fast driving, aviator wearing, and music blaring, well, goons.
This is the second album on which Nick Raskulinecz picks up production duties after Deftones split from long time collaborator Terry Date and the result is top notch. Album closer “What Happened To You” features experimental rhythms with a drum beat and vocal line very reminiscent of White Pony’s “RX Queen” but that can be forgiven. Guitar layers upon guitar and Moreno sends us off with the lines “Far ahead of our time…floating through”. Deftones are indeed far ahead of our time, there are hints at recycling the tried and tested methods but when it sounds this good, why the hell not?
Steve Battle
