Perhaps it was their early, somewhat inaccurate association with the "nu-metal" movement, but it took awhile for people to cotton on to the fact that Deftones roll pretty much toe-to-toe with Tool when it comes to pushing the boundaries of mainstream heavy metal to its experimental extremes.

Those people just weren't listening. Around The Fur, the Sacramento crew's bruising second album, was already stretching the quartet's mercurial sound into shoegaze, prog and Goth-y New Wave directions way back in 1997. While still being monstrously, satisfyingly heavy, of course. But that's always been Deftones' secret: they deliver the cathartic battery you crave, but they reliably do it with a dash of artful strangeness exemplified by Chino Moreno's effects-laden vocal stylings. After this came an even greater level-up in the form of 2000's White Pony, but the seeds were already being sown here.

TRACKLISTING:

1. My Own Summer (Shove It)
2. Lhabia
3. Mascara
4. Around the Fur
5. Rickets
6. Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
7. Lotion
8. Dai The Flu
9. Headup
10. MX