Twenty years after the release of their seminal third album,
White Pony, alt-metal stalwarts
Deftones delighted fans with its long-rumored remix companion,
Black Stallion. Featuring revitalized spins on decades-old tracks, the album boasts a star-studded team of special guests from across the genre spectrum who inject unexpected textures and interpretations into the mix. The result is a vision transformed with mostly fascinating results. Opening with a familiar riff, "Feiticeira" quickly melts away, chopped and screwed beyond recognition by
Clams Casino, who creates a head-rattling loop of atmospherics that banishes the original guitars and
Chino Moreno's "Soon I'll let you go" line into the ether.
DJ Shadow -- originally on the band's Y2K wish list as the sole remixer of the entire project -- puts his '90s throwback trip-hop spin on "Digital Bath," which winds up sounding like the crew wandered into
Bjoerk's studios during the
Homogenic sessions. "Elite" is a towering monster brought to life by English producer
Blanck Mass, who conjures a
NIN-worthy industrial assault that would fit perfectly onto the soundtrack to a postapocalyptic thriller or a pulse-pounding video game. While
Salva twists "Rx Queen" into a glitchy, percussion-heavy moment of distorted discomfort,
Phantogram turn in one of the best interpretations on the album with their soothing dream pop take on "Street Carp," smoothing the edges of the original as they cast off into a futuristic neon soundscape.
Purity Ring take it one step further into the pleasure zone with a glittering "Knife Prty," which alters the thrilling sex-and-violence danger of the original by amplifying the song's sensual side. Meanwhile, fellow nu-metal survivor
Mike Shinoda (
Linkin Park) applies his unmistakable formula onto "Passenger," a twisted duet between
Moreno and
Tool's
Maynard James Keenan. Whereas the original heightened the tension and paranoia to suit the song's ambiguous lyrics,
Shinoda boils it down to the essentials with a straightforward attack that relies on a simple buildup and cathartic release. Aside from these highlights, other tracks are better suited as breathers between the standouts. While the
Tourist remix of "Change (In the House of Flies)" renders the original hollow and almost unrecognizable,
Trevor Jackson's pounding transmutation of the feral "Korea" neuters the source material completely, which is a shame because it's one of the finest
Deftones deep cuts (and home to one of
Moreno's best screams). Perhaps most divisive is
Robert Smith's precious
Cure-ification of the tender "Teenager," which is a little too safe-sounding considering how big of a score it is for these
Cure fans to nab
Mr. Smith. In the very least, it's a full-circle honor for a band who count
the Cure as such a major influence. Overall,
Black Stallion is highly impressive for a remix album, standing on its own without feeling like unnecessary B-side filler. By enriching the experience of an already iconic album,
Deftones fulfill a promise made two decades prior with one of the more engrossing additions in their entire catalog. ~ Neil Z. Yeung
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