Deftones had built their career on heavy guitars and a frontman who could turn a scream into a whisper within a verse. Their third album, Deftones (2003), tried to break both rules at once. The record is a double shot: it wants to crush the listener with metal, then soothe them with melody, collapse into noise, and soar into something strange. That ambition is the whole story of the record, and it explains why some listeners loved it and others walked away disappointed.
Opening With Hexagram
Hexagram opens the album with a slow, crawling riff that feels like it’s being pulled through mud. The song builds slowly, layering distorted guitars over a steady drum pulse until it finally breaks into a chorus that sounds almost poppy. It’s a strong start, but it sets a trap: after this, the album spends most of its runtime chasing the same tension-release pattern, and not every track lands.
Needles and Pins Through Battle-Axe
Needles and Pins follows with a more straightforward rock riff. It’s the kind of song that works better live than on record, where its hooks can get lost in the mix. It’s competent, but it doesn’t ask much of the listener beyond keeping pace.
Minerva is where the album starts to show its teeth. The song layers clean guitar lines over a pounding rhythm, and the vocals shift between a high, strained register and a low, growled one. It’s the track that best captures the record’s central idea: a song that can be both crushing and soothing at once. It earns its place near the top of the track list.
Good Morning Beautiful is a slower, more atmospheric piece. The title suggests sunshine, but the music underneath is darker, built on a repeated piano line that recalls the band’s earlier work. It’s a decent track, but it’s also the first one to feel like filler. It doesn’t add much to the record’s identity.
Deathblow brings back the aggression. It’s a fast, brutal track that leans heavily on the band’s metal roots. The production is thick, and the guitars are pushed to the forefront. It’s a solid performance, but it plays it safe — there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before in the genre.
When Girls Telephone Boys is the odd one out. It’s a slow, brooding track with a spoken-word vocal delivery that sits uncomfortably next to the band’s usual sound. It’s a bold choice, but it doesn’t quite land. The lyrics are cryptic, and the pacing is slow enough that the track risks losing the listener’s attention entirely.
Battle-Axe is the longest track on the record, and it shows. It’s a sprawling, instrumental-led piece that builds slowly toward a climax. The middle section, where the band drops out and lets the guitars carry the weight, is the strongest part. The rest of the track is filler, and it drags.
The Middle Stretch
Bloody Cape is a short, punchy track. It’s the kind of song that works as a palate cleanser between heavier pieces, but it doesn’t leave much of an impression on its own. It’s functional, but forgettable.
Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event is another standout. It’s a moody, atmospheric track that builds slowly toward a climax. The vocals are delivered in a low, almost whispered tone, which gives the song a sense of dread. It’s the track that critics pointed to alongside Lucky You, and it’s easy to see why — it’s one of the few moments on the record where the band sounds truly experimental.
Closing With Moana
Moana closes the album with a slow, brooding instrumental. It’s a fitting end to a record that spent most of its runtime building toward quiet. The track doesn’t resolve anything; it simply fades out. For some listeners, that will feel like a statement. For others, it will feel like a letdown.
The Tracks That Don’t Land
Not every track on Deftones earns its place. Battle-Axe drags its middle section through filler, and When Girls Telephone Boys never finds a clear direction. Good Morning Beautiful is pleasant but slight. These three tracks don’t sink the record, but they do make it uneven.
The record’s weakest stretch comes in the middle of the album, where Deathblow, Battle-Axe, and When Girls Telephone Boys form a run of tracks that lack the focus of the songs around them. Battle-Axe, in particular, feels like a track that was allowed to run too long — the instrumental build is interesting, but the payoff never arrives.
This is metal that crushes, then soothes; collapses, then soars… Deftones just blow open the possibilities.
That line captures the record’s core problem. The album is full of ideas, but not all of them are executed with equal force. Some tracks land with real force; others drift by without leaving much of an impression.
What Works
Lucky You and Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event are the clear highlights. They’re the tracks that best balance the record’s conflicting impulses: heavy, but melodic; crushing, but soothing. Minerva also stands out as one of the stronger cuts, even if it doesn’t reach the same heights as the two singles.
The production favors texture over clarity. The guitars are thick and layered, and the drums are buried deep in the mix. That’s a deliberate choice, not a flaw, but it means the album rewards repeated listens more than it rewards casual ones.
The Verdict
Deftones is a record that splits the difference between ambition and execution. It’s a brave attempt to push past the band’s established sound, and it succeeds often enough to justify the effort. The best tracks — Lucky You, Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event, Minerva — are among the band’s finest work. The lesser tracks are competent but forgettable.
The record is at its best when it commits fully to a single mood, whether crushing or soaring. When it tries to do both at once, it often ends up doing neither well. That tension is the album’s defining feature, and it’s also what holds it back.
The record is a mixed bag, but it’s a mixed bag with highs that reach far higher than its lows fall. It’s a record that rewards patience and punishes skimming.
Key Facts
- Artist: Deftones
- Album: Deftones (2003)
- Tracks: 11
- Length: 47 minutes
- Metacritic: 74/100
Deftones is a record that swings for the fences and connects on some pitches, misses on others. It’s a worthy addition to the band’s catalog, but it’s not the peak of their work. The highs are high, and the lows are low, and the album as a whole sits somewhere in between.
- Hexagram4:09
- Needles and Pins3:23
- Minerva4:18
- Good Morning Beautiful3:28
- Deathblow5:28
- When Girls Telephone Boys4:36
- Battle‐Axe5:02
- Lucky You4:11
- Bloody Cape3:38
- Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event3:57
- Moana5:04
