Released on October 28th, 1997, Deftones’ sophomore album Around The Fur was an unqualified success story. Eventually going Platinum on the wave of fans that tracks like “My Own Summer (Shove It)” and “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” brought in, it’s still a fan favorite for many reasons.
Around The Fur may be a transitional album for Deftones, lying somewhere between alternative metal and nu-metal, but it’s a great album all the same. Even now, it sounds as fresh and vital as it did in 1997. Chino Moreno’s vocals are plastering here, and it’s on songs like “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” and the title track that the band shows the kind of atmosphere that would set them apart from any band in the music scene. A surefire alternative metal classic. What’s more is that it integrated shoegaze influences for the first time, especially evident on the former aforementioned song. And notable, Hum’s 1995 album You’d Prefer An Astronaut was also a sizable influence here.
The band would truly expand their sonic palette on White Pony, their most popular album. While it’s a very different album than ATF, you can hear much of the jagged alt-metal edge that would still surface on WP, so it’s a pretty vital component of their sound.
