Deftones: Underrated?

I've spent the last few hours scouring the net for reviews of Deftones albums, only to find that most reviewers don't seem to take the time to really listen to the albums in their own right, ignoring the deliberate and painstakingly crafted sound scape, only to lump them in with "nu-metal" (a label they spit out with heavy disdain) Is there more to Deftones than simply who they hung out with when they first started? Are they a band that will be name checked by future innovaters? Can we blame them for emo? Should they go on if bass player Chi, in a coma since an auto accident in early November, never recovers? Am I the only one who even cares?

Deftones are pretty good, man...Spin did make the switch around 2001 from characterizing them as nu-metal loseurs to calling them the Smashing Pumpkins of the genre...theyre not the best but they have some undeniably good songs...

I like them a lot and White Pony has to be one of the best rock albums of the decade.

there we have it.

yes, i would say they are probably the most underrated band of the last 10 years or so.

They do have a really great drummer.

I feel this. I put on White Pony once a year or something just for nostalgia and end up getting really excited

saturday nite wrist is pretty good i listened to that a couple weeks ago

I started this thread because I wanted to hear other peoples opinions about our boys and I couldn't really find that many reviews online. I myself have been an obsessive fan for a good ten years and wonder how anyone could not think they're amazing. Each album progresses from the previous in a way that's an unexpected direction, but one that totally makes sense Their production is thick and awesome. What's not to like?

thick production

Street Carp is one of my 100 favourite songs ever

I literally can't listen to anything they've ever done except White Pony which is easily top 50 records of the decade.

i guess i could literally listen, but i don't want to

also, that really sux about Chi Cheng...I hope he's okay.

white pony is great

^^^^yup, great record

indeed.

I don't think Whiney should pass up on Saturday Night Wrist if he digs White Pony so much.

I haven't knowingly heard anything this band has done, but I like to mispronounce their name as "Deft Ones."

yeah sat nite wrist is really good

^

i always wrote this band off as lame and couldn't tell the difference b/w them and Korn without ever actually paying real attention to them. ILX was actually the first place I read that they might have more merit, and that was mainly from UK people, where I think their critical reputation is higher than in the US. sadly I tend to associate popularity in this musical format as hand-in-hand with suckitude. I was wrong, White Pony is pretty great.

wrist is hella patchy. the s/t is underrated.

pink maggit came up on shuffle today. holy balls what a track.

what are other albums tht sound like this?

I always thought the Deftones were an indie rock band, possibly new wave-ish (which is to say that I guess I don't really have a clue what they sound like, but that's what their name looks like).

they were basically like the radiohead of nu metal i guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL4MGwlZuAc

I love this song to pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuNZGijfaZA

I have fond memories of 'shove it'

has anyone heard their latest, diamond eyes? i'm tempted to check it out, but i wanted to see if anyone else had first.

Yeah, it's really good. I like it better than either of the two before it.

Yeah, after loving the first three, I was really let down by the last two. This one goes a long way toward winning me back.

Found the Team Sleep album at the Dollar Tree for - yep, you guessed it - a buck.

Diamond is fantastic; on my favs of the year so far. Basically splits the difference between S/T and Saturday Night Wrist.

*one of my.., that is

I'm not a huge fan of "overrated/underrated" discussions tbh but I think Deftones are simultaneously over and underrated, just by different populations.

My metalhead breathren were wont to dismiss them as Korn clones, which even when they did play a similar style, they definitely had their own personality. And less likely to check out albums like the s/t or White Pony.

However, being someone who liked both those albums, I can say that it never really went beyond a strong "like", not a "love". I think they do what they do well, but I've never heard anything of theirs that captivated me or took me to the next level.

So I guess I'm saying they're rated about right in my eyes.

I don't really think they sound that much like Korn...more like Pantera w/ Cure influences

Not that familiar with their stuff but I really enjoy the covers on their rarities comp

yeah i can't stop listening to this new album. not sure if i love it, but theres clearly something i like about it.

so, has anyone else heard the new one?

Heard 'Back to Skooooohoool' (sic) tonight. Fuck, if that isn't the worst song of all time then christ knows what could be.

yeah but Street Carp is probably one of the best songs ever written...

Am I the only one with a soft spot for "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)"?

"Change (In the House of Flies)" is my favourite song from White Pony.

"back to school" is indeed bad but it was an alternate version of one of their songs which was tacked onto a "re-release" of White Pony:

"Back to School (Mini Maggit)" was released as both a single and as an EP package; the single was released shortly before the EP.

Vocalist Chino Moreno: "This album right here [the White Pony re-release] is not the album that we turned into the label. As far as we're concerned, the first edition was the record. Done. Then they talked us into re-releasing it with another song on it, and it's not like I'm against the song or whatever, but I liked the sequence we had when we first turned it in. When this version came out, a little part inside all of us felt like: 'Fuck! We just totally compromised.' And I know that a lot of our fans felt bad about it too."[1]

Am I the only one with a soft spot for "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)"

no way. that song is great!

that's a good one but I like My Own Summer (Shove It) a little more

i played guitar in a band in high school that covered deftones, metallica, etc... we played at our senior class party thing and opened with my own summer. i broke my low e string almost immediately :(

i've heard the new album once, not enough of an opinion to cast judgment on it yet

regarding "white pony." if i've ever needed an album to remind me of where i was musically/emotionally that year as an upstate high-schooler involved only with what was heard on FM radio, that album is it

"back to school" is indeed bad but it was an alternate version of one of their songs which was tacked onto a "re-release" of White Pony:

"Back to School (Mini Maggit)" was released as both a single and as an EP package; the single was released shortly before the EP.

Vocalist Chino Moreno: "This album right here [the White Pony re-release] is not the album that we turned into the label. As far as we're concerned, the first edition was the record. Done. Then they talked us into re-releasing it with another song on it, and it's not like I'm against the song or whatever, but I liked the sequence we had when we first turned it in. When this version came out, a little part inside all of us felt like: 'Fuck! We just totally compromised.' And I know that a lot of our fans felt bad about it too."[1]

― (latebloomer) (latebloomer)

That's such a fucking lame excuse. If they were truly awesome they wouldn't mind whatever song the label picked as a single. Stop creating music that makes you feel ashamed.

i'm trying so hard

salva remix of "rx queen" is like... almost unpleasant? yet i always end up liking it

haha I got pretty stoned on my first couple listens, it really jumped out at me as being, after the intro, three three-song "suites" (active trio, chill trio, active trio) with squarepusher as the fireworks at the end

speaking of stoned I wonder if they tried calling dean blunt

just spun Ohms. Awesomeeeee

really loving Pittura Infamante atm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my-rCTvo604

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rte2YuDtfVY

that's sick!

I want full boutique remix versions of all the albums now tbh

I just barely talked myself out of $20 for a two-track picture disc on RSD. How's the Arca mix on the flip side?

the visuals on the youtube made the rest of this thread trip out to my eyes briefly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipy0D6ySYgA

Is their current US tour w/ Gojira on or not? I've seen conflicting reports.

Postponed till 2022.

Deftones part ways with long-time bassist Sergio Vega.

https://www.wearethepit.com/2022/03/deftones-bassist-sergio-vega-parts-ways-with-band-provides-statement/

Sure makes the band seem like a bunch of dicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3o8g6VGktw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awWKnZsaO3o

Liberty DeVito just jumped into my shortlist of rock personalities I want to hear stories from.

just saw this on another forum "Genuine question: why are they regarded as the 'hipster' nu-metal band (over someone genuinely cool like, say, P. Roach :cool:) when each member weighs about 48 stone and they sound like a poor man's Mushroomhead:eek:"

Saw them live as a casual fan who knows a few things here and there with my wife (it was her Christmas present) and it was very good indeed. Also a great friendly crowd which loads of younger (teenage-and-up) fans which was good to see.

They're far better live now than they were back in white pony / self titled era. Obviously have some really good production/lighting/sound people too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgh_jEm5twE

theeeeee greatest band of all time

new album 8/22

loving it. one of the most consistently great bands in all of hard rock

I didn't realize until today the guitar player is a flat-earther who won't fly internationally and other extremely "I smoke a lot of weed" thoughts

Yeah, iirc Chino has pretty directly attributed a lot of Carpenter's "thoughts" to his excessive weed use. I know the two of them have a long history of not getting along at all.

New album dropped today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zErtM1r2c

p4k review was lovely

"i think about you all the time" is wonderful.

the reviews from folks on reddit are overwhelmingly positive, can't wait for my copy to get here.

i think this one is my favorite since koi no yokan. maybe even better

need to rinse so many of these albums again

am i the only one who likes back to school? rapping aside lol

i had the original WP release, aren't they all embarrassed by that "mini maggit" version?

yeah everyone hates it. except me

I love it

my friend told me that a lot of the young ones are really into deftones these days. i had no idea!

In my day they were all into Cliff Richard

my friend told me that a lot of the young ones are really into deftones these days. i had no idea!

Goth is forever.

yeah my white pony version didnt have Back to School on it. At the time I was a little upset that i bought it too early. But revisiting that song now, I wasn't missing anything lol. Sorry.

the quietus review is very "the problem with this album is i was once 17 and now i am no longer 17"

https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/deftones-private-music-review/

am i the only one who likes back to school? rapping aside lol

― Grebo McEntire (uptown churl), Friday, August 22, 2025 12:45 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nope. It was the first Deftones song I ever heard, up late idly watching MTV one night, and I remember thinking, "hey, this is pretty good, maybe System of a Down isn't the only good nu-metal band." So you aren't alone. I think the lead vocal (rapping aside) kinda sells it - always sounded to me like some unholy offspring of Mike Muir and Bilinda Butcher or something. Good song

sometimes it feels like the world ended in the early 2010s

actually happened in the early ‘90s

agreed

anyways new one rips pretty hard. it really is loud as hell, some sort of mastering alchemy in effect. feeling locked club and ecdysis in particular.

the hum influence is obvious but after revisiting the old records, i'd argue that shudder to think is pretty key as well. it's secretly record collection rock + emo, with a metallic facade.

and while i agree with the light criticism of the quietus review, retrospection is inevitable when they've been at it for so long and are so consistent. like, i was 12 when adrenaline came out, now i'm old and blasting deftones from my subaru on my way to the dispensary. they played through a twenty year cultural cycle and it's sort of feeding back into their contemporary position. or something ...

now i'm old and blasting deftones from my subaru on my way to the dispensary

putting this on my mood board for the week.

also underrated vocal influence is bono in "hold me thrill me kiss me kill me" mode

xp lol

This release show video is really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCWNzogEkE

Really should rename this thread “DEFTONES RULES!”

getting ready to listen to the new one. Spent some of the weekend relistening to the post WP albums and SNW might be my second favorite if it weren’t for the indefensible outro on “Pink Cellphone”.

ok, pretty sure private music is going to be my #2 now. this is precision deftones.

This is the first album by them that's really stuck with me for some reason. Definitely going to go back and try again with the earlier stuff. I was driving somewhere last week on a hot day and playing, "Souvenir" with the windows down and had the thought that this album will be remembered for being my soundtrack to late summer of '25.

saw them live a couple weeks ago and was surprised by how young the crowd was. they’re huge with gen z

There were so many teens at their Montreal show, it was mind-boggling! They brought so much energy to the show, something you don't see at other gen-z/millennial-centric concerts. It's great to see Deftones bigger than ever, they deserve that success, especially after their steady metamorphosis from 2006 to present.

The new record is one of their strongest, too. My fave since Koi No Yokan, easily.