You likely don’t need us to tell you that Deftones are one of the most important bands of any genre. There are very few current alt-metal, nu-metal, or even shoegaze bands or musicians who aren’t at least slightly influenced by them in some way, with the band’s influence even pushing into other genres of music. Even an artist as world famous as The Weeknd considers Deftones to be a key influence on his Trilogy album series, which launched Abel Tesfaye into the worldwide consciousness. Simply put, Deftones are everywhere – and then some, in spaces you wouldn’t necessarily expect.
At its core, much of Deftones’ music touches on sensual undertones. It’s been this way almost since the formation of the band, but truly came into view when 1997’s Around The Fur dropped. Ever since then, they’ve had a large impact on a plethora of the scene’s most interesting bands. And unsurprisingly, there’s plenty of prominent examples to go around.
Take a band like Loathe, for example. When the Liverpool band released I Let It In And It Took Everything in early 2020, the album threw together a ton of disparate influences (metalcore, shoegaze, dream pop, industrial, even post-black metal) and made most of the songs stick in some way. Not shockingly, it was immediately compared to albums like White Pony both for its diversity as well as the album’s overall sound. That’s both high praise as well as an enormous amount of pressure to heap on a young band. The fact that Chino Moreno himself praised their song “Two-Way Mirror” is evidence enough that Loathe are doing something right.
Loathe certainly aren’t alone in these comparisons. Glassjaw is one of the biggest examples that critics (and fans!) tend to correlate to having a major Deftones influence. Having toured with Deftones around the time of their first couple records, Glassjaw toyed with post-hardcore in similar ways, with their jagged guitar riffs blended with melodies (and an esteemed vocalist in Daryl Palumbo). Yet they didn’t abandon their heavier, NY hardcore-influenced sound on Worship And Tribute either – “Pink Roses” in particular still hits viscerally hard even today.
There’s plenty more examples just in metalcore, too. Silent Planet’s newest album, Superbloom, has a more electronic and industrial component to their sound than on previous albums. While there’s several songs that are likely to throw fans for a loop, the title (and ending) track to the record is an interesting one. In fact, it’s something Silent Planet have never really tried before – a lush, atmospheric shoegaze-influenced alt-rock song that’s among the biggest risks Silent Planet could possibly take with their sound.
Even bands like Boston Manor and Don Broco have pulled it off, with “Inertia” and “One True Prince”, respectively. The latter is quite reminiscent of songs like “Minerva”, while “Inertia” (as well as “Desperate Pleasures”) showcase Boston Manor’s developing songwriting skills and evolution. Oh, and finding a hook and riding it for the entire song, too. And they’re far from the only bands of their genre doing this, too. Fightstar is one of the best examples of where a band can take a key influence. On their 2015 album Behind The Devil’s Back, Fightstar integrated impressive synth sections into their sound, and on tracks like the melodic “Overdrive” and album closer “Dive”, they’re content to balance these with the kind of alt-metal riffs that help these songs find balance.
There’s also newcomers like Australia’s Wayside, who’ve expanded their sound with producer Will Yip into something very, very special. If you don’t believe us, listen to some of their newest songs “Parallax Error” and “Safe Forever” back to back, and you’ll be convinced. Hell, Superheaven’s “Youngest Daughter” – a song that’s a decade old, mind you – is now charting at rock radio because people still love grunge, alt-rock, and shoegaze. It’s not *only* due to Deftones, but it would be silly to pretend they haven’t played a part. We haven’t even touched on bands like Narrow Head, Higher Power, Fleshwater, Static Dress, Softcult, Amira Elfeky, Split Chain, and Teenage Wrist – bands and artists who occupy different sections of the alt-rock/grunge/post-hardcore/shoegaze spectrum, but might well be linked by a common influence. Or at least some common stylistic threads.
This only scratches the surface, to be fair. You get the picture. So many bands and musicians would sound radically different without the kind of influence that Deftones have brought to the table over the last 30 years or so. Timeless, really.
