AROUND THE FUR - Comments on Guitar

On "Around the Fur", the first thing to notice is Stef changed his tunning from "Adrenaline": instead of the standart tunning, he changed to a dropped and half step (one fret) lower tunning. The 1/2 step lower tune only shows us a tendency Stef would come to follow forward, the search for louder chords & heavier ringing riffs. Album by album, Stef progressively lowered his tunning, until he finally reached perhaps what he had been looking for so long: a barithone 7-string guitar on "Deftones". 

Dropped tunning means the last string (the loudest) is tuned 1 step (2 frets) louder then the usual. With this, all chords involving the last string recieve a whole new hand position, far easier than the standart hand position in the standart "flat" tunning. It adds ease while playing fast heavy riffs, because the hand doesnt have to move at every chord, only one finger has to move. The chorus of "My own summer", per example, would be unplayable at live if Stef didnt adopt the dropped tunning. Other examples are the verse of "Lotion" or verse of "Lhabia". Not only the dropped tune allowed Stef to play faster, but it also allowed him a whole new freedom of movement during the shows: at any desire riff, if he wanted, he could jump and rock around however he wanted, without having to pay so much attention to the riffs, that were easier to play.

Another add of the dropped tunning was the possibility of more freedom while composing with octave chords. Examples of that use are the verse of "Be quiet and drive", or the chorus of "Damone" (hidden track), which could never be composed in a standart tunning. The use of wider, octave, chords was an experience Stef seems to have to liked in "Around the Fur", and all the following albums showed deep reflexes of this. In "Adrenaline", Stef rarely used chords using more than 2 strings, while on "Around the Fur" the majority of chords use 3 strings, and often 4. This tendency got deeper, as we see in the following albums he used more and more 4-string chords, and on "Deftones" he uses often even 5-string chords.

In "Around the Fur", Stef kept (though slightly decreased) the fast note-changing riffs. Riffs like the chorus of "Roots", or the chorus of "Engine #9", or the chorus of "Nosebleed" are not seen with the same furious speed, but that tendency can still be seen on the whole "My own summer", on the verse of "Headup" or on the chorus of "Rickets". Most riffs on "Around the Fur" tend to repeat more on each note and on timing. Basically, the main difference in the composition style from "Adrenaline" to "Around the Fur" is Stef channeled his energies into timing, strumming rythm, and wider-sounding riffs. Tendencies that could already be forseen on the verse of "7 words", the chorus of "Bored" or the verse of "Fist", and tendencies that got truly deeper on "White Poney". Stef's taste for continuosly, with increasing musical & emotional intensity, repeating the same riffs was already clearly expressed on "Adrenaline", on the whole "Fist" or on the outro of "Fireal", and "White Poney" expresses better than any other how that tendency evolved. That is not a mark of "Around the Fur", thought it is also presented, per example on the verse/bridge of "Be quiet and drive" or the ending of "Dai the Flu".

Picked-built riffs are rather rare on "Around the Fur". Though so frequent on "Adrenaline", per example on the verse of "Minus Blindfold", the verse of "Fist" or the intro of "Birthmark". On "Around the Fur", this composition style appears clearly only on the verse of "Mascara".

On view of composition style, some riffs call our special attention on "Around the Fur", because they sound like experiences in guitar playing that Stef didnt have yet on "Adrenaline", and that didn't repeat much on the following albums.
The chorus of "Headup" is impressive by combining harmonics with in a fast riff, with a perfect rythm. It was clearly a new experience for Stef, and he was very well succeded.
The verse of "Around the Fur" has reached a rythm that absolutely completed Abe's drums, and the use of palm-mute that way was a new use for Stef. It is a kind of riff that is not repeated anywhere else on Deftones, some Stef's moment inspiration.
The chorus and the main riff of "Mx" are surprising on the fact that thought they are completely different riffs, they match on emotions, rythm & heaviness. The chorus completes Chino's wave in-out vocals, but keeps the afterall heaviness of emotion, while the main riff completes the heaviness of emotions that is given by Chino's silence.
Maybe the most impressive riff on "Around the Fur" is the verse of "Lotion". It has a completely special rythm, by alternating the blows of heavy rageous chords, with wavy & fluctuating sharp chords. It is surely very special not only for its rage bursts, but also because it completely allows Stef to alternate the rage he hits the strings with tranquility guitar-arm chording, intensifying and exposing the emotions of the song.

The heaviness has changed to follow the changes in the whole band emotions & lyrics, giving "Around the Fur" a completely different sound than "Adrenaline".
Stef's guitars & Abe's drums matched perfectly, while so often Stef was being heavy & Abe played lightly, the afterall result was a held, grasped riff, expressing perfectly Chino's deception lyrics. When Abe would finally release his strenght on heavy drums, the very same song would reach it's mellow, the guitars would gain a whole new heaviness, and Chino's vocals would complete the experience, creating the perfect emotional bursts to the songs.
It is on "Around the Fur" also that Chi evolved his experiences of bass lines that wouldnt follow the guitar, experiences already shown on "Adrenaline" and that finally ecloded on "White Poney". Bass lines following the guitar are still used to improve the heaviness of some riffs, but more and more Chi was finding space to express his creativity in simple, slow & harmonic bass lines, that overrun the rythm of the guitar and give the riff a new experience.
Chino vocals & Stef's guitars also reached a new equilibrium, and more oftenly they blow-in together or slow-down together, thought Chino has always kept his unique freedom to variate his voice from whispering to screaming on the same riff. Maybe it's exactly because Stef kept the guitar rythm constant on those riffs that Chino's voice sounds just so waving and perfect.

In afterall, "Around the Fur" follows and evolves Stef's composition style, showing elements from "Adrenaline" while predicting the sound of "White Poney". Stef changed the heaviness of the hurried riffs for the heaviness of loud & heavily rythmed riffs, while this changed was absolutely perfect to follow Chino's new lyrics, more personal and less political. In this album the predominant emotions are personal deception & the rage that emanes from it, and Stef matched his guitars to complete those bursts. With new riffs composed wider and heavier, Stef could play with more rage and worrying less on technique.

The results: a heavy and interestingly more emotional guitar experience.

The track that most carries the mark of the previous album: Headup
The track that better forsees the following album: Be quiet and drive (far away)

- by Ralph Vanstreels (kain175@hotmail.com)