Deftones - 'Prayers/Triangles'

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First track review - let’s do it.

After a four year studio silence since 2012′s Koi No Yokan, Deftones are finally back and spacier than ever. Due out in April, Gore will be the band’s eighth album and the lead single, ‘Prayers/Triangles’, which also serves as the intro track of the album is now out, featuring the band taking a very progressive turn.

The song begins with vibes that serve as a throwback to Around The Fur’s ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’, beginning without climax, but with a reverberating guitar that sounds like something from the unreleased Eros (with the indications from ‘Smile’) and a light drum beat following it. The chorus bursts in powerfully, huge and demanding, every element commanding attention. The song has some of Deftones’ most atmospheric sounds the band has ventured into, the song sounding huge and expansive. The songs epic conclusion has the song turn full gear into a heavy wall of sound that sounds crushing and huge. The song does suffer a little from mixing inconsistencies, though it makes up for it by being so big.

This song has a lot going on lyrically, too. Chino Moreno’s vocals are full of tension in the verses and enchanting in the choruses, while still being packed full of anger and beg for something in the bridge and outro. The lyrics kick off intense right off the bat: “There's a new strange godless demon awake inside of me / There's a force divine terrorizing the ages I keep while we dream.” The song seems to be about a realization that eats its narrator up, as they realize the realities of it. The “new strange godless demon” is the thoughts they have that they don’t want to accept, but know is true. The “force divine terrorizing the ages I keep while I dream” are those thoughts tampering with the truth they want to believe. The chorus cries, “Prayers, lay it on the line / You will never be free... / Triangles, placed in your mind / You will never be free,” the narrator battles between the wishes they have for reality and the actual truth they must begin to accept. The bridge cries: “Beware / Now we will never walk this street again / The only time I feel I'm not alone / I pull my heart out, wave it in the air” and the narrator lets his true thoughts out as the truth solidifies within them. Chino specializes in all things about love and sensuality, and never fails to provide sexual yet provoking lyrics in every one of his songs, especially Deftones material.

Gore is set to be a standout in Deftones’ discography, and in all of music in 2016. The band seem to be taking a different approach to their music. While this song is definitely a Deftones song (you can just tell), there is something unique about it. Perhaps its spaciousness, though that is reminiscent both of Saturday Night Wrist and Eros. Only time will tell what Deftones have in store for this album. It’s bound to be massive.