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Not the Next White Pony: A Review of Deftones Koi No Yokan

Maybe it’s because I first listened to “Leathers” that I thought the new Deftones album Koi No Yokan was going to be that fulfilling, gratifying album I’ve desired from this band. But it's not.

Maybe it's because I first listened to "Leathers" that I thought the new Deftones album Koi No Yokan was going to be that fulfilling, gratifying album I've desired from this band since my disappointment ever since Saturday Night Wrist. I was enamored with the song. I listened to it multiple times, reveling in Chino's bursts and stops and starts, all on top of that pummeling guitar line that makes my lowest chakra rumble and feel like it's spinning.

I've been a fan far too long. Deftones have been one of the few bands that have crept alongside me throughout the past fifteen years. My story with this band goes back to 1997. I was 13 years old. I was up way past my bedtime, but I had my radio's volume very low so my parents couldn't hear it. I remember barely catching the DJ's words about the next song being by Deftones. That was a band name I'd heard, but hadn't listened to. It might have been my dark childhood room, or maybe the name Deftones really is mysterious, but I had desperately wanted to hear that song. I think the DJ played "My Own Summer (Shove It)". All I remember is that I loved it. I wanted to hear it again. I had been a little metal head from early on, slowly learning the various genres of metal. It was the moody atmosphere mixed with the whispering and the various types of screaming for which I yearned. It wasn't Metallica or Slayer. The music was far more dynamic and captivating. You could blow your brains out with Pantera, but you could have an experience with a Deftones album. I've been a fan ever since that night.

I relived that excitement with the following two Deftones albums, 2000's White Pony, and 2003's Deftones. But after that, something changed. A downturn. A lack in vigor. Many of my favorite bands throughout my lifetime have come and gone, but for some reason it is this band's dissatisfying records that trouble me most.

Is the new album aggressive? Ambitious? Cosmic? I wouldn't go that far. I also would not claim it as the "rightful successor" to White Pony, as Spin magazine did .

Rolling Stone called the new album angsty and tense. But compared to White Pony, even with its vast, melodious meandering, Koi still doesn't feel nearly as edgy. Pony wasn't as "soft" and "harmonious" as people seem to want to remember it. "Feiticeira", the opener, was off-kilter. It had a nervous liveliness. The piercing guitar riff felt like sophisticated sounds from a slasher film. Chino spat some of his words almost like a frenzied cat spits and hisses from the back of its throat when it's confronted by a vicious dog. Pony didn't come off as desperate for a hook or a chorus. Most of Koi feels like it's looking too hard for that in nearly every song.

If Spin is right, then where is the aggressive, uncompromising track on Koi that could even come close to "Elite"? Where is the eccentric, anxiety-laden "Street Carp"? Where is the building, bursting energy of "Korea"? Koi doesn't have that level of intensity. It has, instead, a few good songs (like "Leathers", "Tempest", "Goon Squad", and "Gauze") that have the signature guitar riffs, and Chino's magical voice. The rest of the album's melodies and choruses feel forced. Pushed out. Too emotional. Ripped untimely from their creators' cerebral wombs. I miss the Deftones days when there really weren't obvious choruses. There didn't have to be an understandable sing-along section. Unless you wanted to rant about having a new address, and then get Chino shouting in your ear to "write it down, write it down." Or "Hexagram", where only a seasoned screamer could attempt that without breaking a blood vessel.

It is also Stephen Carpenter's guitar playing that becomes open and bright each time one of the new songs blows into its chorus. "Swerve City" is a good example. The Deftones I desire deliver a catchy chorus line from Chino, but undermined by a chug-chugging from Carpenter's green machine. Instead, as on Koi and the past two albums, the guitar too often opens into brighter chords. Sounds reminiscent of light breezes. There's a noticeable lack of shrillness coming from Stephen, as in the glory days when it sounded like he was snapping his strings. Much of the crucial intensity is deflated in this album, and another lackluster chorus chips away at what could be a satisfying Deftones song.

One might say the entire Koi No Yokan is a good album. It's finer than the earlier records. It's evolved, as are its creators. They might be right. But I'm not satisfied. "Leathers" is by far the most impressive track. It is sad and defiant. It is uplifting, yet Chino's drifting voice can give you chills. His performance on this track, if only it were the basis for how the rest of the album sounded, is reminiscent of White Pony. Carpenter's rhythmic, fat-stringed guitar section cuts through any unnecessary sentimentality. It hinges to the earth the naturally atmospheric quality of so many of the band's songs. Chino blows off a scream here and there with the ease and pleasure I'm sure most Deftones fans have come to crave.

I thought "Leathers" was the moment the album was going to turn around. But it doesn't. The fifth track, "Entombed", will make the most stringent fan consider hitting the fast-forward button. The song is on the verge of being precious-and I don't mean that in a good way. I know, I know, White Pony had "Digital Bath" and "Teenager", but those songs were flanked by the fitful "Feiciteira" and the violent "Elite", and "Street Carp" and the insane "Knife Party". And neither of those slow songs deflated the rolling wave that had begun swelling from the very opening second. The slow Pony songs added extra dimension. They somehow informed the aggressive songs surrounding them. I don't get that same feeling on Koi, and I miss it like hell.

"Graphic Nature" and "Tempest", the next two songs on the album, do not recapture or reinitiate the momentum. They are good songs, but they don't demand you listen to them. They don't inspire you to sit straighter in your chair, and they don't cause you to wonder how the hell Chino makes his voice do what it does.

"Goon Squad" is the other dazzling spot. It showcases the best qualities of the band. That hazy ambiance drifts in like a light fog over a haunted town. Chino's voice appears like a pair of headlights cutting through the mist. It is startling, confrontational. It resurrects the old Deftones powers of simultaneously unnerving and uplifting the listener.