White Pony

That such a progressive, risk-taking LP wasn't celebrated across the board for its gutsy reinventing of a band thought pigeonholed wasn't that surprising, though – this is a difficult album.

Massive in pretension, slightly too long and gothic, but when all the pieces fit, you can't deny its unstoppable power.

With White Pony, the Deftones have crafted the kind of top-notch album that Tool and Korn have been wanting to make for years.

A dense and textured rock affair that builds a bridge between grunge, goth, and industrial stylings.

When you can make out their lyrics... you realize that these guys are really the artier, more nuanced and textured cousins of Korn.

The Deftones went soft, but in an impressive way, to twist around its signature punk thrash sound.

White Pony ends up being more accessible than the group's two previous albums, because it's not a half-formed mess but a classic alternative-rock album, as gentle and catchy as it is dark.

White Pony works on many different levels, with its treatises on alienation, art-rock explorations and soundtracks for people who don't take drugs but want to transcend the mundane. [Record of the Week pick]

But for all the growth, the band's continuing inclination toward a bludgeoning sonic attack and Moreno's violent, impressionistic lyrics make this a tough pill to swallow for most listeners.

It's surprising how well the songs on White Pony absorb the band's disparate influences (Slayer, the Cure, Bad Brains) without compromising any of its destructive effect.

Far and away Deftones' most daring and impassioned work to date.

At their worst, Deftones can sound almost like a parody of themselves. But at their best, the band fashions a heavy, claustrophobic atmosphere in which Moreno spins his dark, personal tales of misery and heartbreak against a backdrop of music that careens from the ugly to the beautiful. Most of the time, White Pony finds Deftones at their best.

A complex, heavily textured album that aims for the stars.