Deftones @ The Greek Theatre. 11-1-13.

Deftones just spent the past few months opening for Avenged Sevenfold on some crappy arena tour across the USA. I say crappy because I wouldn't wish touring with Avenged Sevenfold upon my worst enemy. So the tour ends and Deftones rush back to California and play this awesome one off headlining show at The Greek Theatre. Just the band and five thousand or so friends hanging out together in the Hollywood hillside. Oh...and Glassjaw was opening. Cool right?

Unfortunately, traffic in Southern California is the 5th horseman of the Apocalypse. Journeying through the ungodly confines of the 5 fwy, then traversing through a Mt. Everest of parking lot congestion, we missed Glassjaw and damn near missed the beginning of the headliner's set as well. The only semi-good thing to come out of this traffic/parking nightmare, was seeing Serj and Shavo from System of a Down huddled under a tree outside the venue waiting for the rest of their band mates to show up (this was later confirmed by the power of the internetz). 

Thankfully, we made it to our seats moments before Deftones went into the opening notes of "Feiticeira," off White Pony. After months of playing a brief "best of" type set for non Deftones fans, Chino said it felt great playing whatever they wanted. That meant lots of rare treats like "Elite," "Lhabia," "Teenager," and "Bloody Cape," alongside a healthy dose of new cuts from 2012's Koi No Yokan. "Temptest" and "Romantic Dreams" sounded just as good, if not better (heavier and with crazy urgency) live than on the new record. Even after watching Chino play guitar all night with Palms this summer, it's still so odd watching him with a guitar in Deftones. I guess I'm just used to him jumping and swinging his microphone around.

photo boosted from: L.A. RECORD

Outdoor venues can be tricky, with sound levels fluctuating on the whims of a breezy night, but Deftones sounded great this evening at the Greek. Stephen's guitar was pummeling as ever during "Diamond Eyes," just as Abe's ghost notes and full on snare bashing were on display during "Passenger." We all know Chino is modern rock's crown prince of crooning/screaming, but Sergio Vega's backing vocals have become a crucial component to the Deftones live show. Not only is he a legendary bassist, but the dude can carry a tune. I couldn't believe it but Sergio basically made "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" his own.



A few bummers about Deftones' otherwise awesome show:

• Curfew- the venue is nestled between the woodland expanse of Griffith Park, and very expensive residential homes. The wealthy neighbors don't take kindly to late night concerts in their backyard so the Deftones performance at the forest moon of Endor (Chino's words) was cut short by a few songs.
• Layout-although a great sounding venue, if you aren't within the first few rows of the stage the band feels a bit far away. We were lucky enough to land seats with a birds eye view but still couldn't manage any decent photos or video =/
• Parking- yeah I'm bitching about parking again. Really it's that fucking horrible trying to park here. We spent about the same amount of time in the car (arriving then trying to exit afterwards) as we did inside the venue watching Deftones play. Sheer insanity.

Small grievances aside, Deftones continued their reign of awesomeness with back to back album & concert victories. So thankful they played this show and didn't force me to buy an Avenged Sevenfold ticket. Thanks guys, I owe you one. 

Palms @ The Observatory, Santa Ana. 7-11-13.

Ever hear of the Deftones? Of course you have. They escaped the slums of the mid 90's nu-metal scene and emerged as one of the most exciting rock bands of the new millennium. Ever hear of ISIS? Maybe not...but you should have. They were genre bending titans of atmospheric and metal music, standing tall as the leaders of the 00's post-metal underground. What happens when you splice the charismatic vocal croons of the Deftones with Isis' intense musical core? You get an awesome fucking new band called Palms. That's what. They played four special debut shows in California last week. Their show at The Observatory was amazing.

Crypts, a Seattle based synth punk outfit, opened the show. I kind of hated the band at first, dudes playing laptops and synths don't usually hold a special place in my heart, but after a few songs I found myself totally spellbound by the band. The singer was a total maniac, jumping, spitting and cracking his belt like a whip every chance he got. I'm definitely interested in seeing more from Crypts in the future.

Once Crypts wrapped things up, the sizable crowd grew anxious for some Palms. I don't think the show was sold out but it looked pretty damn full from my end. It seemed like most people in attendance were die hard Deftones fans. This made sense, since Deftones are the larger act and vocalist Chino Moreno is worshiped like some kind of deity by his adoring legions of Southern California Latino fans. No really, you could literally hear a wave of panties dropping as soon as Chino took the stage. So the packed house was ready, and I'm happy to report that Palms was more than able to kick ass on this night.

Palms mellow, atmospheric sound (think sandy beaches at sunset) was enthralling, while the band's refined metal pedigree was strong enough to keep heads bobbing all night. They played every song off their self titled debut album and threw a Swervedriver cover in for good measure. It should come as no surprise that the band was tight and precise as hell, Palm's musical core (Jeff, Aaron and Bryant) spent more than a decade together bashing away in ISIS and Chino's career with the Deftones has cemented him as one of the best vocalists of his generation. It's like Hercules and Xena teaming up...you better believe they're going to kick ass. I was pleasantly surprised to see Chino playing guitar during their set. I'm so used to seeing him as the hyped up frontman, watching him focus on his playing and delivery was kind of surreal. Also, Aaron Harris has been one of my favorite drummers for years. His block-y yet strangely fluid drumming style is totally unique and something I can't get enough of. Watching him rock out again behind the kit after ISIS disbanded was, for me, worth the price of admission alone.


Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay the band is that Palms sounds almost exactly like their album live. Get the CD, close your eyes and that's pretty much how they were in concert. Yes this isn't the most complex or technically demanding music, but it's rife with sonic textures and nuances that the band nailed perfectly onstage. Check out the band's new record and jump at the chance to see Palms live in the future.

Top 10 Albums of 2012

Here's the listing of my favorite albums from 2012. Not necessarily the best or greatest but the ones that left the biggest impact on me and warranted the most repeated listens. Not ranked in numerical order, all rule pretty hard (IMO). Feel free to take listen:

Converge- All We Love We Leave Behind

It's pretty much unanimously agreed upon that Converge's Jane Doe was the best metal album of the 2000's. Their first album of the new decade is no slouch either. The riffs are still crushing and the technical spazz parts still turn lesser minds into spaghetti, but this really is one of the bands most catchy/accessible albums to date. Clean vocals that don't offend the ears and memorable, infectious songs, this album is the prefect starting point for Converge rookies.


Gaza- No Absolutes in Human Suffering

The ugliest and unfortunately, most truthful album of the year. No Absolutes is like the evil twin of Converge's All We Love We Leave Behind. Both albums blend punk and metal into a slammin' hybrid but while Converge use clean vocals and uplifting melodies to spice things up, Gaza only slow down to further bludgeon the listener with lumbering riffs and some of the most menacing howls/vocals this side of the insane asylum.


The Hives- Lex Hives

No one will accuse The Hives of being the most prolific band around, but it had been so long since their last album (2007's rather disappointing The Black and White Album), even I was afraid the band might have lost a step. Well rejoice world, Lex Hives marks the band's triumphant return from the dark realm of major label land, back to high octane world of punk meets retro rock where they reign supreme. Nobody does poppy, infectious and snarling 4/4 rock music like The Hives. This new album proves it.

The Hives - Go Right Ahead (Official video) from Bold Faces on Vimeo.

Ghostlimb- Confluence

The follow up to their awesome 2011 album Infrastructure does not disappoint. Another quick jolt of thinking mans hardcore, that isn't afraid to bring the galloping tempos and screams to a crawl and simply rock the fuck out. The first time I heard this song "Candiae" I wiped the drool from mouth and hit replay instantly, it's that good and represents all that is awesome about Ghostlimb and their entire new album.


Black Breath- Sentenced to Life

This record was the surprise of the year. I've seen Black Breath live before, I dug their last album fine but holy balls I did not expect to love Sentenced to Life so much. It's the perfect blend of thrash and crust punk by way of old school Swedish death metal. Basically, I start having visions of circle pits and frozen cemeteries when this comes on. The production, dear LAWD the production, is phenomenal. Every instrument is clear and distinctive, it sounds modern and high def but still has that classic dirge us metal heads fiend over. Catchy energetic songs that will make even the most casual observer thrash like a madman and bang their fucking heads.


Phobia- Remnants of Filth

This new Phobia record is not unique or all that distinguishable from the rest of Phobia's epic grindcore catalog, but something about this album just stuck with me. Enough to edge out new albums from grind legends like Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer and fiery upstarts The Secret. All those albums slayed, but something about this new Phobia record just won out. It's simple grind but done to perfection. For the none grind fiends out there, imagine The Ramones on a cocktail of steroids and meth and you've got Phobia's latest album.


Torche- Harmonicraft

The happiest album of the year? Torche have roots in sludge and stoner metal, but they have progressed into the best heavy rock and roll band nobody knows about on the planet. They're so good it's not even funny. One tour with the Foo Fighters or Red Hot Chilli Peppers would put this band into the stratosphere. Steve Brook's vocals are warm and inviting, the guitar tone is both heavy, and saccharine sweet at the same time. Torche's rhythm section is unfuckwithable and they prove it on Harmonicraft. I even saw grown ass *gasp* metalheads dancing, yes dancing, to Torche's new songs in concert I shit you not.


Beneath The Massacre- Incongruous

This band is on some next level shit. Technical death metal for angry T-800 model terminators. The whole album is a whirlwind of bloops and bleeps (guitar doodling), machine gun fire (double bass drumming & blast beats) and demonic vacuum cleaners (growling vocals). This was THE death metal album I went back to all year (edging out new records from Spawn of Possession, Gorod, Nile & Cryptopsy). Your brain is not ready for this.


Anaal Nathrakh- Vanitas

No band frightens or excites me as much as Anaal Nathrakh does. Their extreme (and I mean extreme) blend of black metal and grind, is like the soundtrack to Armageddon. Vanita's production sounds like it was recorded in the cold and terrifying depths of outer space, while it's music was written in the chaotic agonizing pits of hell. Bits of traditional "heavy metal" guitar melodies and soaring operatic singing mixed with a barrage of drum machine madness, blitzkrieg tremolo picking, and the most terrifying vocals shrieks you'll ever hear. Check out the final scream/outro of this song for proof.


Deftones- Koi No Yokan

This band is fired up. They've adjusted to the lineup change brought by Chi Cheng's tragic accident, and are attacking the current musical landscape like a band possessed. Koi No Yokan is the Deftones 2.0's second stellar album in a row (following 2010's amazing Diamond Eyes). The production sounds a little less gorgeous than their previous record, but the songs, the songs are just as haunting and unlike their string of albums from the 2000's, truly dynamic.

Deftones & The Dillinger Escape Plan @ The Palladium, Hollywood. 6/10/11.

word.

The Dillinger Escape Plan is my favorite band. Period. They announced they were going on tour with the Deftones earlier this year and I damn near shat myself. So yeah, I was stoked about this show for a long while. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the day off from work like I planned making it a mission to try and get to the Palladium on time. Also, I was already damn tired before the show even started. I didn't care though, I was going to be as close as possible for DEP's opening set come hell or high water.

Teri from Le Butcherettes @ a different show

As it turns out, there was another band opening the show called Le Butcherettes. A genuinely awesome spazz rock band from Mexico, I knew they weren't going to suck when I caught Chino from Deftones and Jeff from Dillinger eagerly awaiting the band's entrance from the side of the stage. Le Butcherettes packs a lot of power for trio, but their frontwoman and apparent band leader deserves the most accolades. Singing, dancing, playing guitar & keyboard, crowd surfing. She did it all. I'm used to sweaty dudes landing on my face when I go to shows, her jumping on me was a nice change of pace.

The time had come. Dillinger was next. Surrounded by a few other metal dorks near the front, I went nuts as my favorite band of bros took the stage. They opened with "Farewell, Mona Lisa" off their latest record, Option Paralysis, and all was right with the world. The thing about Dillinger is that they're a strange band. Most of their old material is full on, raging technical (and I mean bust out your graphing calculator) metal. A lot of their new stuff is still complex but has more of a rock 'n' roll vibe that the average Joe can bob their head too. Regardless of what they're playing, The Dillinger Escape Plan's live performances are always "intense" to say the least. With little regard for their own safety, the members of DEP flail and jump around not only the stage, but often entire venues like satanic acrobats. There's usually lots of bruises, blood and smashed instruments at the end of a Dillinger Escape Plan show.

Ben from DEP in the crowd

Since they were limited to an opening slot, the band toned down the extreme tunes in their repertoire and played mostly newer material like "Milk Lizard," "Black Bubblegum," "Chinese Whispers," and "Gold Teeth On a Bum." Numerous Deftones fans seemed to get their groove on during these Dillinger crowd pleasers. That wasn't the case when they'd switch back to their vintage psycho jams. I heard some lady behind us complaining during the always amphetamine like "Panasonic Youth" that "this crap is too hardcore" and leaving to get a beer. Her loss though. The band ended the night with the back to back onslaught of "Sunshine the Werewolf" and "43% Burnt." Something happened during "Sunshine," some Pavlovian instinct was triggered and before I knew it I tossed my video camera down to my girlfriend and crowd surfed over to Dillinger's singer Greg, who jumped into the audience looking for some folks to help him sing along.  It was awesome. They ended the night jumping off their monitors and smashing their instruments across the stage LIKE A BOSS.

(skip to the 7:20 mark...sound is kind of bogus =/ )
They got a pretty wicked ovation from the Deftones crowd. Mission accomplished guys.

Immediately after Dillinger finished the chants for "DEFTONES!" and "CHINO!" began. The crowd started to surge forward and the body heat index rose dramatically. I was already tired from work, and had just sweated to the oldies with my pals DEP. I needed water and air conditioning stat. We retreated to the safety of the snack bar and regrouped. I knew this meant losing our pristine spot near the stage but I didn't care anymore at this point. Besides, there is nothing worse at a concert than drunk "normies." Regular people who only go to a few big shows a year (if that) and get super wasted while doing so. There's a certain etiquette you learn in the underground metal scene. I've seen sweaty Mongoloids in the pit at a Suffocation show act more politely than 9-5 office types who get super belligerent at their one concert experience of the decade. It's super annoying and kind of scary when there's thousands of them in one giant room.

So the Deftones came out and as expected, the Palladium went bonkers. They opened with the title track of their latest album, "Diamond Eyes," and that opening guitar riff was easily the loudest thing I've heard since Pig Destroyer blew my ear drums out @ the Knitting Factory in 09'. All the normies started pushing and hassling each other. Bumping into girlfriends and spilled beers are bound to happen folks. Live and let live I say. Anyways, the band was super fired up. Touring with Tasmanian Devils like DEP and Le Butcherettes must have put Deftones on the offensive. Chino (Deftones' singer and patron saint for all Mexican rock fans in Southern California) ran around like a man possessed, utilizing the stage ramps and allowing us poor souls in the back to see what was going on up there. His voice was top notch as well. Last time I saw Deftones was in 2003 when they opened for Metallica and unfortunately, they and Chino especially, sounded horrible. Luckily tonight they came with their A+ game.

blurry Deftones are blurry

The bands's setlist was packed with new songs off Diamond Eyes and old school tracks from their debut, Adrenaline. Personally, I dig the Deftones more ethereal side. The trippy, spaced out crooning is what I'm there for. So when they played modern era tracks like "Minerva," "Sex Tape" and "Digital Bath" I was stoked. The apeshit Nu Metal jamz like "Engine no. 9" and "7 Words" didn't do much for me, but all the normies straight up LOVED it. I wish I could see the Deftones in a smaller venue, where all of Abe Cunningham's ghostnotes on the drum's wouldn't be lost in a sea/mix of snare and bass drum. Even from way in the back, it was easy to see the dude was murdering his drums with serious gusto.



My two highlights of the night were the special duets Chino did with Teri from Le Butcherettes and Greg from DEP on "Knife Party" and "Passenger." I wish I would have kept my spot near the front for these two performances alone. Oh wells. Can't believe they played "Knife Party." So awesome. haha. All three bands put on stellar performances. I'm glad I was exposed to Le Butcherettes and plan on keeping my eye on them. I'm glad I could support the mighty Dillinger Escape Plan and that they won over such a massive audience. I'm glad Chino and co. totally erased that bad experience from Metallica's Summer Sanitarium II tour from my memory with this awesome headlining spot. I'm just glad.

Hell of show

Tomorrow night I'm off to see The Dillinger Escape Plan opening for Deftones. Deftones put out one of my favorite albums from last year, and Dillinger is my favorite band, period.

This will be my 10th time seeing Dillinger in concert. There's really nothing quite like it. My first Dillinger show was back in 2004. It was a life changing experience to say the least. There's dozens of insane videos from Dillinger concerts on Youtube. This video I'm sharing today is a recent one, and shows why the current lineup just might be the best incarnation of Dillinger yet. I don't think their set tomorrow night, playing in front of a large crowd of "normal" folks, will be as wild, but watching this video gets me foaming at the mouth and filled with anticipation for their next headlining gig.

Enjoy.


*Note*
Oh yeah, forgot to mention this here blog is named after Dillinger Escape Plan's song, "Jim Fear." I kind of hinted toward this in my very first post but of course, nobody was around to read it back then.

2nd chances w/: Deftones

Reppin' "...Sacktown, the Bay Area and back down..."

Welcome to another edition of 2nd chances, where I shine the spotlight on a band/album that I initially felt indifferent toward, let down by, or totally hated on but have since come to peace with. This installment is a little different than the previous two. I'm not only singing a different tune regarding Deftones latest album Diamond Eyes, I'm singing it's praises from the rooftops.

I gave Diamond Eyes a few spins when it first came out in 2010. I liked what I heard, and automatically knew the album flowed better than their self titled Deftones album and their last full length Saturday Night Wrist, but wasn't blown away either. I thought, nice work Deftones. End of story. Well flash forward to early 2011, news broke that Deftones and The Dillinger Escape Plan will embark on a U.S. tour together in Spring after years of failed attempts. To my surprise/horror, the tour has ZERO California dates. This makes no sense seeing as how Deftones and Greg from Dillinger all live in my bankrupt state...needless to say I'm devastated by this. I go on a Deftones kick, spend an evening listening to Diamond Eyes on my iPod and fall in love with the damn album.

So whats so damn great about this record? Well for starters the production is phenomenal. This album sounds amazing on my overpriced iPod earbuds, I suppose my first mistake was only listening to Diamond Eyes on my computer speakers...at a lowered volume....while playing MW2. =/ Yeah. Next, the arrangement. As I said before this album flows extremely well together from start to finish unlike their last two CDs which, IMO had a few curveballs in the order/pace of the overall albums. Finally and most importantly, the bees knees about Diamond Eyes are the songs. Holy feces these songs have some hooks. The band outgrew their Nu Metal origins on 2000's White Pony by transitioning from whiny aggro rock to hauntingly sultry space jams. Diamond Eyes has this in spades. In fact that might be the reason I initially overlooked this record. It's a slow burner, meant to seduce the listener over time. Hell, I'd go back in time and include this in my Top 10 albums of 2010 for sure if I could.

Here are my two favorite songs off the album, which they awesomely enough made legit music videos for.

This song has some sleazy swagger to it, plus the band gets down in a bloody orgy with scantly clad women. You're welcome.


This next one is my favorite song off the album. I think this might even surpass "Digital Bath" in terms of sheer beautiful awesomeness.  


TL;DR: Deftones Diamond Eyes rules. "Sextape," best song on the record.