feeling to it. The song draws the listener into the song with its mesmerizing hook and “digital” sounds in the background. Most people either hate or love this song, but one thing most people can agree on is that it’s strangely compelling and hard to tune out. “Knife Party” reveals the darker side the Deftones have, in particular Chino Moreno’s infatuation with the dark underworld of drugs, prostitution and crime. The song’s brooding sound is established early by an eerie guitar hook followed by a thunderous wall of distortion. Chino’s melodious voice floats above the churning sonic fray till he lets out an animalistic screech that lasts for a good portion of the song. Finally, the record closes with the slow developing, yet stellar “Pink Maggit”. The first minute of the song is a slow brooding vocal exercise of Chino’s voice as he mumbles unintelligible phrases and words over the backdrop of sampled noises and a very distorted chord progression by Stephen Carpenter. The song’s lethargic start soon comes to an abrupt end with the sudden outburst of heavy guitar and bass distortion in addition to Cunningham’s crashing drums that absolutely destroys the listener and overwhelms the senses. The song is very cathartic. The atmosphere starts of slow and introspective and eventually builds the mood to one of barely in-control insanity (if there is such a thing) and then finally degenerates once again into a slow heavily distorted guitar solo much like the beginning. The song is a very fitting closer to the album since it leaves the listener exhausted from the roller coaster of emotion one experiences by listening to the record. While the new record has it’s disappointing moments, it does have several instances where it shows what great promise the Deftones have as a band further progressing and creating their own version of music. In light of the f...
