White Pony (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

White Pony (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Sacramento’s Deftones spent most of the ’90s feverishly navigating the fringes of alt-metal. By 2000’s White Pony, they had effectively seized that scene, drowning its rage and recklessness in a moody, muddy stew of experimental metal, shoegaze, post-hardcore, and ambient noise. The album teases and torments within debaucherous environs, starting with the title itself, White Pony, a symbol of sex and a certain powdered stimulant. Lead single “Change (In the House of Flies)” speaks to the mania those corporeal pleasures can elicit—its menacing plod gives way to an explosive chorus, then a sinister request: “Give you the gun, blow me away,” vocalist Chino Moreno chokes out at the bridge. It’s certainly not the only time he flirts with death. On “Digital Bath,” he daydreams about an electrocution, whispering seductively under the narcotic spell of a liquidy synth; on “Passenger,” he trades taunts with TOOL’s Maynard James Keenan on a whiplashing ride that’s heading straight to either transcendence or hell. The album was thrilling for fans and hugely influential for many artists—and not only within the realms of rock and metal. Twenty years on, this anniversary edition contains not only a reissue of White Pony, but also Black Stallion, a fully remixed version, each track handled by a different artist. It’s testament to not only its widespread impact, but to the ways these songs can be twisted and reshaped into a remarkable range of styles. Clams Casino takes on opener “Feiticeira” in fine form. Its first moments are essentially identical to the original before it slows down in an obvious, intentional way—signaling that it’s all about to change—immediately plunging the album into a murky pool of industrial ambience, which flows into DJ Shadow’s heady, trappy reinvention of “Digital Bath.” Many of the remixes are of this nature—seeing what happens when the heavier original material is introduced to slower rhythms, softer melodies, or contemporary production and hip-hop beats. It brings out the album’s most emotional moments to remarkable effect. Moreno’s wails in “Street Carp” were always powerful and painful in their angst, and Phantogram’s decision to replace the chunky guitars with flitting percussion provides space for the desperation in those vocals to be felt that much harder. Likewise, “Teenager” was always a deeply tender highlight, but here, in the safe hands of The Cure’s Robert Smith, it’s a gentle, touching lullaby of vulnerability and heartbreak. It’s not all soft and mushy, though: LINKIN PARK’s Mike Shinoda begins his remix of “Passenger” with stripped-back atmospherics that later explode into the song’s huge, satisfyingly heavy chorus. And “Elite,” reinterpreted here by Blanck Mass as explosive EDM-meets-black metal, is by far the most intense remix of the lot and indeed more anxiety-inducing than anything on White Pony.

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