Diamond Eyes - Thoughts + reviews

[Gee]

Just listened to a few tracks off this last night, and I must admit, this album does have a sort of "freshness" to it when compared to the older stuff (probably just because its newer and i've heard it less times, etc.). "Diamond Eyes" and "You've Seen The Butcher" grew on me a little bit, but a lot of the other songs are kind of cheesy and if only Chino's vocals could have been produced and performed better the songs would be SO MUCH stronger. Listening to "Sextape" or "Diamond Eyes" instrumentally and then listening to the official songs with vocals makes me a little sad honestly. A unique kind of song for Deftones with good structure and another with a BAD ASS outro, but then Chino took a huge, commercial shit on both...

Other songs I dont even think are worthy at all. "Rocket Skates" sucks, "Beauty School"'s high guitar parts almost sound country-ish.....

"Royal" is another one Chino could have done better on.... "Risk"'s chorus sucks, but the verse is pretty sick... "The Place Is Death" has a beautiful chorus but once again Chino could have done a lot more with this... Something more subtle....

The only song that I really will definitively stand behind on this record is "976-Evil". I feel that one is probably the most genuine. Chino could have done a bit more with the chorus though....... Meehh.....

One thing Ive noticed about this album though is through out the songs it has these little moments where the music will kind of subside and ring out for a second or it may even be the end of the song but its just these moments feel like old school Deftones for just a minute, and then they go straight back into this new style crap.... For example the ending of "Diamond Eyes" is fucking brutal, that riff sounds like someones neck is being snapped over and over lol, or when the drums, bass and synth first kick in on "You've Seen The Butcher", that almost sounds like it could have been on S/T, until Chino fuck its up....... Then there's the ending of "Beauty School". That little riff is pretty damn heartbreaking. There's also that little break in "Rocket Skates" at around 2:35 where it sounds like shit is about to fucking go off when they go back into the heavy part, but instead they just repeat that lame riff..... Sigh.....

Diamond Eyes is all about verse chorus verse chorus 5 seconds break verse chorus -Prince has 3 verses, I think it might be the same for Sextape and 976-evil -on which I would agree is a definitive highlight. The only songs with actual -good- breakdowns on it are Royal and Cmnd/Ctrl. But this album was made in 4 months and you can feel it was litterally made from jams

But overall, it flows. I can listen to it from start to finish. It feels authentic, raw, maybe a little unpolished -in terms of songwriting. It has its definitive qualities, but I've got to admit I rarely listen to it these days. If Diamond Eyes is Star Wars' A New Hope then KNY is definitely The Empires Strikes Back.

[shoop]

976-Evil is the shit.. I wish they'd try it out on the road.

[SwerveCityUSA]

Just listened to a few tracks off this last night, and I must admit, this album does have a sort of "freshness" to it when compared to the older stuff (probably just because its newer and i've heard it less times, etc.). "Diamond Eyes" and "You've Seen The Butcher" grew on me a little bit, but a lot of the other songs are kind of cheesy and if only Chino's vocals could have been produced and performed better the songs would be SO MUCH stronger. Listening to "Sextape" or "Diamond Eyes" instrumentally and then listening to the official songs with vocals makes me a little sad honestly. A unique kind of song for Deftones with good structure and another with a BAD ASS outro, but then Chino took a huge, commercial shit on both...

Other songs I dont even think are worthy at all. "Rocket Skates" sucks, "Beauty School"'s high guitar parts almost sound country-ish.....

"Royal" is another one Chino could have done better on.... "Risk"'s chorus sucks, but the verse is pretty sick... "The Place Is Death" has a beautiful chorus but once again Chino could have done a lot more with this... Something more subtle....

The only song that I really will definitively stand behind on this record is "976-Evil". I feel that one is probably the most genuine. Chino could have done a bit more with the chorus though....... Meehh.....

One thing Ive noticed about this album though is through out the songs it has these little moments where the music will kind of subside and ring out for a second or it may even be the end of the song but its just these moments feel like old school Deftones for just a minute, and then they go straight back into this new style crap.... For example the ending of "Diamond Eyes" is fucking brutal, that riff sounds like someones neck is being snapped over and over lol, or when the drums, bass and synth first kick in on "You've Seen The Butcher", that almost sounds like it could have been on S/T, until Chino fuck its up....... Then there's the ending of "Beauty School". That little riff is pretty damn heartbreaking. There's also that little break in "Rocket Skates" at around 2:35 where it sounds like shit is about to fucking go off when they go back into the heavy part, but instead they just repeat that lame riff..... Sigh.....

dumb review IMO. Plus rocket skates is a sensation, how could those riffs and chorus not move you. whatever. cool great awesome man.

[rainnyx4]

Rocket Skates has one of the laziest bridges in the history of the universe.  My only problems with this band are when they get lazy like that or repeat a riff too many times in a song.  My least favorite songs on KNY are Gauze and Goon Squad because by the end of the song, I'm so tired of hearing that main riff.

[DeftonesNZ]

Yeah I think that is one of my problems with Diamond Eyes it's a good album but the instrumentals aren't there, Stephen always repeats riffs in his songs but it didn't work in Diamond Eyes because the riffs were too simple and it just sounded lazy, I put it down to him getting used to writing on an 8 string on KNY he really expanded his riffs, Also on Diamond Eyes Sergio followed what Stephen was doing closely and it basically took another element out off the songs.

[SwerveCityUSA]

I disagree.

[DeftonesNZ]

I disagree.

Do you play guitar? you can see by the tabs how much lazier the riffs were

[nicklav]

976-Evil is the shit.. I wish they'd try it out on the road.

That's one of my favorites off that record. That followed by This Place is Death is a great way to end that album.

[Gee]

I disagree.

Do you play guitar? you can see by the tabs how much lazier the riffs were

Deftones were always about the simple big chunky riffs...it was always about the rythm and the general feel of it. Stephen did write some legendary riffs such as Root, My Own Summer or Feiticeira though.

I still agree that he could have gone the extra mile for songs like Diamond Eyes or Risk. On KNY Chino's parts add a lot to Steph's riffs so I generally have no complaints for guitar parts on that album.

[DeftonesNZ]

Yeah KNY is a huge step up guitar wise , Stephen uses some much more of the range an 8 string provides in DE he played most of the stuff on the 3 lowest strings, I know Stephens' style is to write simple riffs and I love his style but on DE the riffs lacked that groove his riffs usually posses. as you said it just felt like he settled on some of the songs.

[SwerveCityUSA]

His new riffs are very complex, i'm talking about getting them right, not just the jist, whenever I see people try they fuck up massively. If it's so simple then you go do it, seriously. If lazy is what you call diamond eyes, then lazy is a good thing. every song is the type of shit to get you evicted if you turn it up. he's driving a motherfucking train on these last two records.

[DeftonesNZ]

That's the point I'm a pretty shitty guitar player compared to most and I can play the Diamond Eyes stuff with so much ease, he rarely uses more than four strings on that album, he just seemed stick to the bottom 4 strings for a song or the 4 highest strings for a song. The riffs impress non guitar players because they are so heavy, on that album he seemed to play a simple riff on the two bottom strings for the verse and then he would just play a basic rhythm riff on the middle strings and that was it.

[SwerveCityUSA]

That's the point I'm a pretty shitty guitar player compared to most and I can play the Diamond Eyes stuff with so much ease, he rarely uses more than four strings on that album, he just seemed stick to the bottom 4 strings for a song or the 4 highest strings for a song. The riffs impress non guitar players because they are so heavy, on that album he seemed to play a simple riff on the two bottom strings for the verse and then he would just play a basic rhythm riff on the middle strings and that was it.

what's so basic? you can't do it.

[DeftonesNZ]

Actually I can and really easily that's my point ,I already said I'm real shit at playing guitar but still I picked up the Diamond Eyes stuff instantly it is honestly so simple. Just look at this tab compared to one from Adrenaline which is played alot faster over alot more of the frets and it also uses more techniques like harmonics and palm mutes aswell.
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/d/deftones/diamond_eyes_tab.htm

[SwerveCityUSA]

Actually I can and really easily that's my point ,I already said I'm real shit at playing guitar but still I picked up the Diamond Eyes stuff instantly it is honestly so simple. Just look at this tab compared to one from Adrenaline which is played alot faster over alot more of the frets and it also uses more techniques like harmonics and palm mutes aswell.
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/d/deftones/diamond_eyes_tab.htm

Ya I was just playing that you can't do it, because if you can then you're not a bad guitarist, because he sure as hell ain't and I don't care what people say about that just because he can't shred like zakk or something. isn't his tuning for that album an 8 string in E? that's what I thought anyway.

[DeftonesNZ]

Nah F# I think for most of it although I think all the KNY stuff is Drop E

[truthaddict]

Just because something is complex or difficult to play, doesn't mean it sounds good.

[DeftonesNZ]

Yeah I know but on Diamond Eyes the riffs were simple which I don't have a problem with it's more the fact they sounded lazy like they should have been fleshed out more, I just put the Nosebleed tab there to show the difference between the range of the guitar he used thought it might surprise some people you would think with the 8 there would be more range but he just didn't use it on Diamond Eyes he could of used a five string bass for alot of the songs, He did alot better on KNY though seemed alot more confident writing on the 8 he's a great guitarist but Diamond Eyes lacked the groove he's so great at making.

[Penicks]

His new riffs are very complex

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ii8E21rbvQ

starting from 4:57.

okay.jpg

[SwerveCityUSA]

His new riffs are very complex

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ii8E21rbvQ

starting from 4:57.

okay.jpg

I know right? one of my favorite ones on the album. many people are getting turned on to this album because of that song followed by the next, truly a musical slice of heaven at any point in history.