DEFTONES

Koi No Yokan

[Reprise]

Despite a good deal of drama—most notably bassist Chi Cheng’s near-fatal 2008 car wreck—the Deftones retained the distinctive alt-metal sound it forged in the early ’90s. Keeping its collective foot on the distortion pedal, the band’s seventh full-length album, Koi No Yokan, provides moments that range from hauntingly tender to downright punishing. Tracks such as “Leathers” feature slow, ominous intros that explode into volcanic balls of angst. Ironically, the album reaches its softest point on the intro to “Tempest,” the chorus of which reveals a morbid eloquence: “I’d like to be taken apart from the inside / and spun through the cycles, right to the end.” But a hint of romance can be found in the brooding harmonic ecstasies that splash amid the deluge of guitar crunch. Despite years of abuse, Chino Moreno’s voice has yet to rupture. As for the guitars, they’ve been rupturing all along. –Ray Cavanaugh

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