Deftones : "Eros"

This is the week of unshelved albums, as first I reviewed the Butthole Surfers, and now here we are with the mysterious shelved "Eros" album finding its way online. So it's not getting an official release like the Surfers did.   These are 80 percent finished demos, not sure what they still had left to do on them, as it sounds like I would expect an album from this era to sound.  There was a porn theme to this album, and all the songs are named after a woman, presumably a porn star.  Though the lyrics are typical abstract Chino metaphors crooned against a dreamy shoegaizing backdrop. The first two songs do not really hold much in the way of aggression from the drummer, building things. They do bring more punch to "Melanie," and he even screams. Though the rough edges come from Chino's voice cracking in places on this one, and little in the way of effects on them. 

"Smile" breaks the theme. It is a little more unique than the previous songs. The vocal melodies sound stronger. Earlier, when I was talking about the vocal production being the most obvious unfinished element, he did record his harmony tracks, which, since 'White Pony," has been one of the trademarks of their sound. "Margot" works off the moody, almost ballad-like formula that has been one of the dominant factors leading to the online name of the band being "horny Korn", though there is less Korn sound. This is the first moment I don't feel really measure up. It almsot feels like they are ripping off Far. "Candy" is more of this dreamy moaning. 

The second song that really shows some balls is "Sable". The palm muted groove is one of their best moments in some time. These are the kinds of grooves they need more of. "Electra" is another banger with rapped vocals and a spastic energy. There is a touch of auto-tuned magic added, which is the first effect I've heard. He even throws some screams in that needed post-production compression. 'Tempest" also brings a heavier tone with more screamed vocals. So far, this album has the heaviest songs that we have heard from them since "White Pony". This one is darker and more dissonant. "Diamond" is not heavy, but at least uses some interesting melodic elements that are not just shoegaze moans. The last song sounds like late 90s emo, but it works well enough. Given the nature of this release in its raw format, I will give this a 10 as it is better than some of their 2000s albums , 

pst275