Review: Deftones – Koi No Yokan

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

I was 14 when I bought White Pony, the third album from Sacramento metal legends Deftones. Little did I know that this purchase on a June day would eventually change my life. I didn’t realize music could be so intricate, emotional, and devastating all in one swoop. White Pony consumed me and turned my interest in music from casual encounters to a passionate love affair. Honestly, that album is the reason I have this very job.

So why is my story relevant? It’s because I feel the same emotions I did 12 years ago when listening to Koi No Yokan, the seventh full-length from Deftones.

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Review: Bayside – Covers, Vol. I

Bayside - Covers, Vol. I

Bayside has a wealth of early material to boast about, but the band has continued to improve and impress as it has aged. The group’s most recent LP, Killing Time, proved to be one of its strongest records, as Bayside executed with excruciatingly enjoyable precision the formula we’ve grown to love it by. While fans wait patiently for another full batch of Bayside tunes, the New York natives offer up the Covers, Vol. I EP, a collection of five cover songs designed to hold fans over until new music arrives.

The one thing that Bayside does very well on this covers EP – and the EP’s strongest characteristic, in fact – is that the band does a helluva job making these songs sound like Bayside songs. Anthony Raneri’s nasally vocals and Jack O’Shea’s persistent shredding on the guitar are accounted for and produced brilliantly – just because these aren’t original tunes doesn’t mean Bayside took the easy road on this release.

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