Hot New Joint: "Prayers/Triangles" by Deftones

The Deftones have always been an interesting act to follow—an artistically leaning band that often caves in to stagnant, middle of the road “metal” sounds. To some extent, the band peaked in 2000 with its opus, White Pony—an apparent homage to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless in its soundscape, the group has never really been able to capture that right balance again—the balance between the heavy, the melodic, and the interesting.

Cut to 16 years later, my love of the Deftones as obviously waned. I’m not longer an overweight high school student wearing my White Pony hooded sweatshirt. However, because I was such a fan when I was 16 and 17 years old, the band always holds a place in my heart—more or less a guilty pleasure at this point—I am still always marginally interested when the band announces that is is putting out something new.

Enter Gore, the band’s long gestating eighth studio album, slated to arrive in April. And ahead of which, the band has released the first single, “Prayers/Triangles.”

It’s a far cry from the unhinged, desperate perfection they found on “Be Quiet and Drive,” nearly 20 years ago (yikes) and it’s not nearly as eerie as “Change (In The House of Flies.)” However, it is one of those moments where the band strikes that balance—melodic, heavy, and interesting.

Yes, Stephen Carpenter’s guitar assault cuts through the song like a buzzsaw, and the band’s always relied on drummer Abe Cunningham to pummel his way through a song—here, he does not disappoint, playing with a reckless abandon on the song’s HUGE, hook-heavy refrain. “You will never be free,” vocalist Chino Moreno coos, walking that tightrope between using his larynx shredding scream, and actually singing, which is something that he does quite well.


In a sense, “Prayers/Triangles” serves as a bit of a rejuvenation and reintroduction for the Deftones—the group nearly always takes their time in between releases—upwards of four years have passed since their last release. Incessantly touring, the long periods of dormancy can make one forget that the Deftones are a band, and in the case of this song—forget that the band, when firing on all cylinders, are a force to be reckoned with.

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