Playing to a ridiculously packed house at the Electric Factory last Tuesday night, the Deftones challenged their audience to a test of endurance. You almost have to train for an event like this. Two hours long and approaching 25 songs, they punished the onlookers with the burly, thick superlow bass and down-tuned guitar shaking the whole venue. "Diamond Eyes" and "Rocket Skates" opened the night, followed by a slew of songs from 1998 or earlier. They continued on in that fashion for most of the night, tackling two or three song blocks from each of their records, the exception being Saturday Night Wrist which got only one selection. (A shame. That album is painfully awesome.) Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato came out to sing the second part on White Pony's "Passenger," and following a feedback/speaker noise drenched five minute break (guitarist Steph Carpenter didn't even bother leaving the stage), they ripped through "Root," "Nosebleed," and, of course, "7 Words" to close out the night. At this point, the audience had been bested by the band, and considering the band made sure this was the most menacing portion of the set, the crowd could not muster the energy they had at the start of the show.
Accompanying much of the evening was a film playing on the backdrop. Grainy, sometimes overexposed and out of focus, it was a breathtaking horrorshow. It was like watching someone channel surf through nothing but late night B movies. The juxtaposed images, weird enough to be way open to interpretation, created frankensteins from pulp characters. Deftones openly admit that they strive to make the prettiest heavy music that they can, and coupled with the abstract movie, the band provided a chance for mediation, reflection and free association--probably the only band that came out of the nu metal scene encouraging you to think. Though Deftones remain guilty by association, they have long since moved on from their rap-rock roots forging ahead in a direction all their own.
