Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Life & Arts

Deftones make 'Saturday Night' a bore

by CHRISTIAN OCHOA
The Daily Cougar 

The Deftones are a band best heard loudly. For that matter, any band from the mid-90s nu-metal scene deserves to be listened to loudly to appreciate the dedication and ignore the internal shift in each song that sabotages any hope of coming out with a clean sound. 

The band's new album, Saturday Night Wrist, highlights its ability to build on great sound and ruin it by the end. 

The ‘Tones' music is built on loud and aggressive chords that shift suddenly to soft, harmonic passages punctuated by squawks and barking from lead singer Chino Moreno. One of the only consistent elements in the Deftones' work is the precise drumming of Alan Cunningham, which provides a sense of order in this latest work. 

The first track, "Hole in the Earth," which is also the first single from Saturday Night Wrist, starts off on a great note: hard-hitting and fast, much like the Deftones' original sound. The song is a mini-apocalypse: a rapturous mix of heavy riffs, wistful guitars and, if you are able to discern the lyrics, Moreno's sweet, caramel voice ("Can you explain to me how you're so evil, how?" and later on "I hate all of my friends. They all lack taste sometimes"). 

And much like any apocalypse, "Rapture" takes away any bearings the listener possessed and turns them into something sinister and foreboding. 

Such a strong beginning is spoiled with anticlimactic and generic hiccups called tracks. The track "Rats!Rats!Rats!" sounds like the Deftones' screamo entry to a high school battle-of-the-bands contest, a contest they would certainly lose. 

"Pink Cellphone," a hypnotic, electronic-based track, might not go over so well with the Deftones' fan base. It's a hilarious track featuring Annie Hardy from Giant Drag, and it features an explanation on why British people have horrible teeth. But the low-brow humor won't be enough for fans. 

Songs usually consist of simple lyrics and phrases hanging in the backdrop of a constant rhythmic beat and full melodies. This isn't the Deftones' definition of songs. Their songs consist of glorified sounds that establish a heightened state of emotion. 

Tracks such as "U, U, D, L, R, L, R, A, B, SELECT, START" (yes, that's a name of the track) and "Rivière" convey this feeling hardly using any words. Saturday Night Wrist shows this subtle versatility. 

Saturday Night Wrist tries to reach the success Deftones had with their early works, but their new direction is too polished, too clean and too neat. The other extreme of the amateur high-school screamo sound is almost as bad, but it's at least near the same neighborhood as their roots. 

Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu