Two years after Adrenaline, Deftones hit harder and truer. Around the Fur (1997) is the record where the quartet starts to master its real weapon: contrast. Brutality suddenly rubs against tenderness, the scream curls up against the whisper, and this dialectic will be the band’s signature for the next twenty years.
« My Own Summer (Shove It) », massive riff and snarled hook, becomes an instant anthem; « Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) » almost single-handedly invents the band’s dreamy, shoegaze side. Abe Cunningham, behind the kit, asserts a groove of rare suppleness for the genre, while Stephen Carpenter thickens his walls of guitar further still.
Not everything is perfect: the production stays dense to the point of occasionally smothering the nuances, and the album lacks the organic coherence of White Pony. But the ambition is there, blazing, and the record hasn’t aged a day.
Verdict: 8. The decisive link, the one where Deftones stops being a good band of its generation to become a great band, full stop.
