Songwriting UK — Winter 2017

Damien girling

DEFTONES

ADRENALINE

Maverick Records

RELEASED: 3 OCTOBER 1995

REVIEWS

A

quarter of a century ago, Madonna founded Maverick Records.

Three years later the legendary pop songwriter’s label released

the maiden LP by Sacramento quintet Deftones and with it

allowed one of the crowning achievements of nu metal to see the light

of day.

Deftones’ members were aged 22-25 when they recorded Adrenaline.

However, they’d already been together for 7 years and many of the 11

songs to feature on the album had been written at the early part of the

band’s career. Unsurprisingly, the record seethes with youthful energy.

Despite this, Adrenaline begins (quite literally) in muted tones.

Opener Bored rings with tantalising simplicity, its riff plucked from the

sky then left to gasp for breath under the heel of Stephen Carpenter’s

guitar. Though it changes little, it grips your attention throughout. In

no small part, this is down to the captivating voice of Chino Moreno.

At one moment soothing, airy, and ethereal, while at the next it is

possessed with a throat ripping rage. Moreno has a near perfect grasp

of his range.

It’s this combination of brutally, brilliantly simple riffs and cathartic,

contrastive vocals that define Adrenaline, and it doesn’t let up from the

first moment until its close. Following Bored are the sublime Minus

Blindfold and One Weak, each full of delicious, crunchy riffs and

Moreno’s caustic screams, and the thumping Lifter. While Nosebleed

is a bruising post-hardcore driven stunner.

The album’s centrepiece is its first single. While much of the LP

boils and then blisters, 7 Words takes Moreno’s rage to another level

entirely. Squashed by authority and white society, he’s volcanic. And

his bandmates follow his lead; Chi Cheng’s bass is the deceptive calm

that lets Abe Cunningham’s drums pound you to the floor, while

Moreno sears your flesh and Carpenter rips it from the bones with

that riff.

But there’s still plenty of quality left after 7 Words has thudded out

of sight. Birthmark is moody and soaring, Engine No. 9 ripping and

vicious, Fireal epic and thundering, while the closing hidden track First

is esoteric and droning.

If truth be told, Deftones always seemed to have a much stronger

post-hardcore influence than most of the nu metal groups they were

lumped together with and Adrenaline makes it plain that this was the

case all along.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if this album doesn’t ever feature in a best

of list, or classic album summary, but that’s the point. It’s a brilliantly

underrated record that is a near perfect expression of rage-drenched

alt-metal and an album that should be treasured for its quality.

CLASSIC ALBUM

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