Diamond Eyes

1. "Diamond Eyes"
2. "Royal"
3. "CMND/CTRL"
4. "You've Seen the Butcher"
5. "Beauty School"
6. "Prince"
7. "Rocket Skates"
8. "Sextape"
9. "Risk"
10. "976–EVIL"
11. "This Place Is Death"
    
    Release Date: May 18th, 2010.
    

I remember the first time I heard Deftones. My brother and his best friend figured I should hear this band. Laying across the backseat of the car late at night, with the sun roof open, revealing the stars, they put on "Digital Bath". I was in love.

Deftones are one of a few bands that got me into GOOD music in 2000 with White Pony. Before them it was just Foo Fighters and Incubus. Sure, Incubus and Foo Fighters used to be awesome, but Deftones haven't released a terrible CD yet, although many hardcore fans would disagree.

In fact, I believe that Saturday Night Wrist is a great album and a good progression for the band. Either way, I think it's safe to say that a lot of people are going to love Diamond Eyes, if they already don't, due to the frighteningly early leak of the album.

In late 2008, bassist Chi Cheng was in a horrible car accident and has ever since been in a coma. It was right around the time the band was finishing the recording process of a record entitled Eros, which is apparently weirder, atmospheric, yet still very heavy. That record has been delayed and will eventually be released. As a tribute to the bassist who's been with them from the start, the band decided to write a whole new CD with a different art style that better represents them. What came out is Diamond Eyes and is essentially a return to form album, combining sounds from Around the Fur and White Pony with a touch of what Deftones were doing in the last few albums.

Nostalgia is the easiest and best way to describe what I feel when I listen to this record. It seems as if I should be blasting this in a car with my windows down in the summer. The exact feeling I got a decade ago when White Pony was released or of that night laying across the backseat while I was introduced to the band. Songs like "Royal", "Saint", "CMND/CTRL", and "Rocket Skates" immediately remind me of the earlier CDs and it becomes apparent that these songs ARE blatant homages to their own work.

So then what is actually new sounding on this record? Well for the first time I can understand Meshuggah's influence on this band. I'm honestly surprised they didn't title "You've Seen the Butcher", "You've Heard Meshuggah" instead. It's a very welcome sound for the band, especially since they use 7-string guitars and tune rather low.

In all, I have to say that this is most likely the band's best CD since the classic White Pony, even though I am hugely fond of the previous album. The songs are rather stripped down and simplistic, consisting of 3 parts, sometimes even only 2. With most bands this would be an insult, but tight and awesome song writing is what the Deftones developed well from the start, and it especially shines on this CD.

Diamond Eyes will most likely be a top 10 album of the year as I cannot seem to get away from it. It's addicting and fantastic. I can only now just wait patiently for Eros, where I'm sure the entire fanbase of this band will once again bitch and moan.

Stand out tracks: "Royal", "Risk", "Sextape" (Maybe the most beautiful Deftones song ever written).

Year of the Black Rainbow

Coheed and Cambria have always been a band that I enjoyed. The Second Stage Turbine Blade was an album that I listened to a lot in 2002-3, which got me into the band and i've stuck by them although they have seemed to be trapped in the same sound for the passed three albums...until now. I'll admit, I've never followed the story much, and although I eat up conceptual music, I just like Coheed's music more because it's fun.

One thing that bothered me about the band's progression, or lack thereof, was the fact that although I didn't follow the album's storylines as closely as many others, I still felt the music was a terrible translation of the story and setting of the story. Pop rock songs, pop punk songs, the longer progressive ballads, and a few shout outs to Pink Floyd never really made me think of epic spaceship battles.

Finally, on the new record, Year of the Black Rainbow, the band has found some kind of fitting atmosphere. Claudio has finally purchased a delay pedal, and it sounds like the band gained a synthesizer player. All the music on this CD, besides one or two complete classic older sounding Coheed songs sound legitimately dark, nearly psi-fi-esque, and dedicated to a potential storyline with a setting in outer space.

Not only that, but the band just sounds HUGE on this CD. It might be due to the great Joe Baressi producing it, but this just sounds like a new mature, and confident Coheed and Cambria. There are at times TONS of layers going on in the songs, and I love the use of synthetic beats over the more melodic songs.

Lastly, Chris Penne's presence in this band is not a subtle one. Not only are the drums fantastic on this record, but he has seemed to have made the bassist much better as well. There are a slew of awesome drum/bass grooves throughout the songs. Penne knows just when to go nuts, or when to go more straight forward.

Overall, this is a great record for Coheed and one that definitely surprised me. I was expecting them to write yet another album that sounded exactly like the last ones, and then I would inevitably grow out of them. Luckily, it seemed like the band has progressed in the right directions for me. As for others who might be actual hardcore Coheed fans, they'll probably be upset with this disc.

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