Through the Night

So this is the culmination of Red Planet...a very modern sounding metal with a really nice bit of melody behind it. I'm not a big fan of the whole nu-metal chugga-chugga shit, but with a bit of atmosphere and mystery I can find some value in it. The little clean riff that keeps coming back is really what drives the whole tune which is a godsend because the deathly vocals, while well done, can't establish a hook for shit. And sadly hooks were probably the strongest suit of earlier Red Planet. Doh! But hey, if the mood and drug regimen are right, I can convince myself that this is the Deftones trying to perform an avant garde version of "Pull the Plug" while abusing goat tranquilizers. Fuckin' A, those have got to be some 8 string guitars doing the main riff.

Musically, this way the fuck more confident than Homeworld, and still features the same super clean production. Not surprising, since it's basically the same band with a new singer and drummer, and you can tell that their playing has only gotten better with time. Too bad you can't hear it in the guitar work, which feels supremely dumbed down and begets a slew of questions (Where did those serpentine riffs go? Did Umeda Fasilova write all of the old material? Do you really need two guitarists if you're not going to do any cool dual guitar interplay?). Perhaps it's a good thing they didn't release an album of material like this--more than one song like this would lose its novelty. If I were to spend a lonely evening in Dushanbe, riding around in marshrutkas to find the city's best qurutaab restaurant, "On Through the Night" would be the perfect soundtrack to that adventure.