Album Review: Deftones - Diamond Eyes

I've been thinking about writing a review of Diamond Eyes since late last week: listening to the album once a day, sorting through my reactions, chewing over the words I would use. The Deftones and I have a bit of a complex relationship, touching on a few points: I dug the singles from Adrenaline and Around the Fur when they came out, but didn't give the band more than radio time when I was in high school. A friend in college gave me a copy of White Pony when that came out in 2000, and I enjoyed it for a few years - particularly "Change (In the House of Flies)" and the Maynard James Keynan collaboration on "Passenger" - but I remember the day on way to work a few years later when I put on White Pony and discovered most of the album bored me. That was pretty much the end of my Deftones relationship until I bought tickets for the BlackDiamondSkye tour and figured I should give the "Diamond" portion of the tour's name a listen.

At first, I wasn't particularly impressed. Chino Moreno's quavery vocals are an acquired taste at best and really grating at worst, and Stephen Carpenter's "heavy" guitar sound has become such a stereotype that it's lost most of its edge. Diamond Eyes certainly features songs that favor both of these elements: the coincidentally-named "Royal" and "Prince" are both examples. But there's stuff to like, too: "Rocket Skates" is heavy, too, but there's something about Moreno's augmented screaming in the chorus that catches the ear.

The album switches gears in the second half: "Sextape," "Risk," "976-Evil," and "This Place is Death" step back a bit and conjure up the slightly twisted dreaminess that made "Passenger" and "Change (In The House of Flies)." so appealing. Not surprisingly - although the lyrics have as much to do with night driving by the ocean as they do with sex - "Sextape" is the softest of the bunch, coming off a bit like a Smashing Pumpkins ballad, while "976-Evil" has a surprising interesting pop-punk feel that reminds me a lot of "The Academy Is..."

However, my favorite track by far - not only of the group, but of the whole ablum - is "Risk," which mixes aggressive verses with a super hook chorus that's floated back into my head hours after listening on a daily basis and combines pretty much everything good about alternative metal in one package. It's a the definite high point of a rather schizophrenic group of songs whose eclecticism and mutability is enough to generate interest rather than adoration. Diamond Eyes doesn't have enough to make it one of my albums of the year, but it's got some staying power none-the-less.

Billy Corgan Gets On The 21st Century Distribution Bandwagon

If I were cynical, I would say that the news that Billy Corgan is a.) planning on releasing a new Smashing Pumpkins album with 40+ tracks and b.) planning on creating a subscription-based service for fans to get exclusive updates are ploys to milk the audience for anything he can get as the Pumpkins' popularity continues to wane. However, I'm excited about the concept, because it looks like Billy gets that the Internet changes the game for distribution the same way that Radiohead, Trent Reznor, and Metallica all seem to: he's creating services that appeal to his core fan base. Am I going to pay $40 for 25 minutes a week of a glorified "making of" documentary, particularly just so I can get it before the whole thing comes out after the release? No, but I'm willing to bet that those who rank the Smashing Pumpkins first among all bands would pay for that kind of access, particularly since many of those people are old enough that they probably have some income to spare.

The release strategy is an interesting idea, too: Corgan thinks he'll do it in dribs and drabs over a two year period, instead of one, unmanageable heaping helping of material. Like the subscription, it seems like a much better way to keep the fans satiated and engaged. Why not just drop the word "album" from the process entirely, though? Such a loose collection of songs does not need that applied term of centralization. Now someone just needs to tell Bob Lefsetz.

Kurt Cobain: The Legacy

I just saw the commercial for the portable version of Guitar Hero, where some kid is playing Guitar Hero on his DS while the background transforms into scenes out of the video for "Tonight, Tonight" (note that anything involving space backgrounds and music makes me think of the "Tonight, Tonight" video) and "On a Plain" plays in the background. Somehow, I feel like every time that ad comes on, Kurt Cobain goes into a high speed spin cycle in his grave. You know, because he hated the commercialism so much. I bet Courtney justifies it to herself, though. Preserving the legacy and all that.