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Album Review
by Flint Ronson
19-5-2003
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| Deftones try to keep NU in metal going |
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Deftones + Dandy Warhals: 'Deftones’ + ‘Welcome To The Monkey House'
(Maverick + Capitol )
Two fourth albums plus
Deftones
‘Deftones’
(Maverick)
Deftones’ fourth album finds them trying to get out of the defunct nu-metal and succeed, partially. The self-titled album follows the path of ‘White Pony’ and combines elements of the genre with some experimental attempts. Chino Moreno and his bandmates trade in typical downtuned riffs and wailing but also strive to break out of the farm.
There are understated moments, such as on ‘When Girls Telephone Boys’ and heartbreak contemplation on ‘Good Morning Beautiful’, but this still deals in intensity and over 11 tracks it gets ya tryin’. Not to the amount of be tacticcally used by US military interrogators in Iraq, according to Newsweek. A bizarre combination of Heavy Metal and children’s theme tunes including the ‘Sesame Street’ were played to prisoners 24 hours.
The article claims that playing tracks like Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ and Drowning Pool’s ‘Bodies’ alongside the theme from ‘Barney the Dinosaur’ helped the US military acquire valuable information. In meantime, nu-metal sounds as fresh as Lynyrd Skynyrd but the Defs are motivated to keep it vital.
7/10
*
Dandy Warhols
‘Welcome To The Monkey House’
(Capitol)
If there’s ever been a band with success that is a mystery almost as the meaning of love, life and everything (and it is not “42”), then it is The Dandy Warhols’. This band has based its whole career on paying homages, whether David Bowie earlier on, The Rolling Stones on the last album or now – Duran Duran. The album is even produced by the DD’s keyboardist and Andy Warhol look-alike, Nick Rhodes, with singer Simon Le Bon contributing backing vocals on ‘Plan A’.
Evan Dando co-wrote ‘You Were The Last High’ and the album’s cover looks like another tribute to Velvet Underground. Considering that their one good song, ‘Bohemian Like You, only became a hit when picked for a Vodafone commercial, shouldn’t they be rethinking their career? (Oh, okay, ‘Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth’ was a cool song, also.) Four albums of recycling is plenty enough: here are your scout badges.
The band’s female member used to take her T-shirt off during shows despite having failed to discover bra… The only gig fun? Well, almost…
6/10
*
Less Than Jake
‘Anthem’
(Warners)
As we are already on the subject of useless music, Less Than Jake make their major label debut with ‘Anthem’ and it is… Ska-punk! To take it or avoid it? If you bypass it you won’t get disappointed, writes this realist. It’ll be a surprise if their label stops making the least money out of the market as long as they continue to sign bands as bland as this.
Warners are in merger negotiations with BMG and knowing German’s proclivity for all things metallistic, Less Than Jake might just stick around for a long time. God helps us!
3/10
Flint Ronson
19-5-2003
All three albums have been released on the same day, 19 May 2003, by their respective labels.
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