Deftones
didn't really have a hard time with their third album,
White Pony
, since it received generally positive reviews and entered the
Billboard
charts at number three. However, the class of 2000/2001 nu-metalurgists overshadowed the group in terms of sales, even if they retained greater critical respect and a hardcore fan base, who nevertheless still registered some reluctance in regard to the artier, atmospheric,
post-punk
edges on
. At first, their simply titled eponymous fourth album seems like a retreat from that territory, since as it opens with
"Hexagram"
it hits hard -- harder than they ever have, revealing how mushy
Staind
is, or how toothless
Linkin Park
is, even if it's a bit of a shame that
Chino Moreno
has resorted to guttural barking for singing.
continue in that vein through much of the first half of the record, gradually working in more atmospheric numbers as the record draws to a close. That shift in mood has the strange effect of seeming confident at first, and then a retreat, even if the music they're retreating to is, by and large, more adventurous and reminiscent of
. It feels as if
feel compelled to strengthen their metallic roots and will sacrifice the very things that make them better and more interesting than the rest -- namely, their love of
art rock
, whether it's via
the Cure
or
My Bloody Valentine
. They don't abandon this impulse completely -- and when they marry it to their harder inclinations, the results are smashing, as on the lead single,
"Minerva"
-- which is welcome, since even if the harder stuff is done well (again, better than their peers), it doesn't carry nearly as much promise as when
don't play by the
nu-metal
reviews. When they do play by the rules, they're good, but they're great when they don't follow a map.
sticks a little too close to familiar territory this time around -- the sound is still good, but knowing that they have done a record like
, this feels like a disappointment, especially because in its unevenness, it sounds like it is the album that should have come before this one. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine