Deftones - Around The Fur

The platinum-certified follow-up to the passionate and aggressive Adrenaline, Around the Fur finds the California quartet expanding on the sheer rage of their earlier work while adding new, more sinister shades to their extreme sound. Produced by Terry Date, the album is a "furious and confrontational" masterpiece that balances "muscular guitar walls" with the otherworldly, "whisper-to-a-scream" vocal acrobatics of Chino Moreno. From the industrial-tinged "breathy, psychotic recitations" to the band's calmer, more brooding moments, the record showcases a "gift for haunting melody" amidst an intense musical firestorm.

The opening anthem "My Own Summer (Shove It)" serves as the perfect introduction to the album's sonic theme: sinewy guitars and eerie whispers alternating with a fast, violent crunch. The record also features a high-octane collaboration with Sepultura’s Max Cavalera on "Headup" and an acerbic take on the rock star mentality in "MX," featuring vocals from Annalynn Cunningham. Behind it all, guitarist Stephen Carpenter’s "heavy wall of sound" remains astoundingly muscular yet inspiringly agile. This 180-gram vinyl pressing is the definitive way to experience the physical weight and "high-fidelity grit" of this alt-metal landmark.