White Pony - Deftones

☆★☆ WHITE PONY -DEFTONES ☆★☆

One of the most emotionally complex metal albums ever made.

Deftones are probably one of my favorite metal bands, I loved this album when I first listened to it about four months ago, I haven't quite stopped listening to it ever since.

This is Deftones' third studio album, and their defining album in terms of their sound and personality. After their very well received sophomore album "Around the Fur", the band wanted to distance themselves from the nu metal genre and from the mainstream (even though they weren't exactly mainstream anyway). While Around the Fur was visceral and violent, falling in lines of nu metal due to its aggression and attitude, White Pony went in a different direction, with a more melodic style and an ambitious blend of genres, the album was a middle finger to the genre.

Instead of continuing with the abrasive sounds that defined the band's last two albums, Chino Moreno wanted something different, so he took influences from trip hop, electronics and post rock to create the atmospheric feeling of White Pony. The album consists of songs that are more immersive and almost hypnotic, contrasting Deftones' violent nature. This dramatic change raised a few eyebrows back in the day, but throughout the years critics have learned to appreciate it more, and today it's considered as one of the most daring metal albums of the early 2000's.

While it's important to mention the album's adventurousness, it's also crucial to acknowledge its emotional depth as well. If you look between the lines you can even call this thing a mini concept album, revolving around some very clear lyrical themes, despite Chino's cryptic writing. But let's talk about the production first.

This is certainly one of the most transcendent metal albums I've heard, as weird as it may sound. Tuning their guitars even lower, and creating an extremely thick layer of sound that is surrounding the mix throughout every song, the band managed to create a captivating atmosphere, blending elements of shoegaze within their heavy sound. The album's ability to be mesmerizingly beautiful while not losing its hard-hitting edge is incredible.

This is also one of the most seductive and sexy metal albums I've ever heard. A big part of this quality is due to Chino's vocals, but it's also thanks to the thick guitars, bending and moving elegantly to form this addictive atmosphere that is oddly ethereal yet still aggressive and amazingly dense. The project's dynamics between its soft and loud moments are so thrilling and unpredictable too, causing the listener to be on the edge of his seat every second.

Now if we are talking about Chino's performances, he is phenomenal to say the least. From his hunting whispers to his horrifying screams of pain, he is constantly changing his vocal delivery, expressing some incredibly complex emotions and being as engaging as possible. There is something so sexy in his vocals, and he's giving the whole mix some sort of a bizarrely seductive attitude, using his wide vocal range perfectly to pull the listener in. I also love how torturously passionate he sounds, sounding like he is almost dying from every word that is coming out of his mouth.

Thematically, I think this album is a vividly abstract concept album revolving around themes such as addictions, drugs, sex, self-masochism and transformation as a human, moving between certain areas in your life through your self-defense mechanisms. Throughout the album more or less every song tells a different story, most of these stories hiddenly contains themes of opening up to a partner, even if the process is insanely painful and fucked up if you will. At many moments this "partner" is a metaphor for the narrator's inner-self, him trying to fight his self-defense mechanisms, fears, addictions and traumas. We are witnessing the narrator dealing with his destructive habits and thoughts.

The album can be seen as the different stages of a toxic relationship between two people, with every song symbolizing the characteristics and the different stages of the relationship. Throughout the first 9 tracks we are diving into certain important events inside this relationship, learning about the destructive nature of the two partners and how they are pulling each other down into addictions and depression. Then there is a twist at the end.

On Change (In the House of Flies) the narrator's lover changes. Probably wanting out of this toxic life of drugs and pain, his partner is becoming a different person, finally leaving this terrible relationship and unironically grows wings and flies away. However, the narrator can't accept this change, he wants her to come back, therefore his frustration is translated to hatred towards her. Having certain destructive thoughts such as: "I took you home, Set you on the glass, I pulled off your wings, Then I laughed", the narrator wants to cut her wings off and pull her back into their toxic lifestyle.

Then on Pink Maggit there is some sort of an open ending, or more of an open for interpretation one. The narrator might be killing his partner, because of his growing hatred towards her, with descriptions like: " I'll stick you a little, Enough to take your oxygen away", or "Pushed back the square, Now that you've kneed her in the throat", it seems like the narrator is killing her in order to achieve some sort of catharsis, and a closer for himself. However, the more popular interpretation is more optimistic, with "her" being a metaphor for the narrator's destructive side, therefore he's killing his toxic inner self, and growing from this toxic lifestyle alongside his gone partner, who also moved on without him. While the two lovers are no longer together, both of them are in better places at the end, separated from each other.

This is just my interpretation of the album. Chino's songwriting is very cryptic and layered, with plenty of odd imagery and complex metaphors. Everyone can interpret the album however they want and embrace it in a way that is the most emotionally effective to them, which is the beauty of this project.

Overall, White Pony is an overwhelming experience through self-masochism, addictions, self-hatred, depression, toxic relationships and destructive actions. Full of exceptional performances, emotionally potent themes and an ambitious blend of genres, this is an incredibly powerful album.

Favorite: Feiticeira, Digital Bath, Rx Queen, Street Carp, Change (In the House of Flies), Pink Maggit

Least favorite: Teenager