Well its 2006 and the Deftones are still a band, and still hard at work trying to put something new on the plate of every eagerly awaiting fan and causal listener. Their latest effort "Saturday Night Wrist" clocks in at just over 50 min with 12 musically diverse tracks.

Saturday Night Wrist kicks off with the radio friendly "Hole In the Earth". This track is fairly bland, however does have a few catchy moments that I'm sure will gain a fair amount of mainstream attention. The bands love of 80s new wave is even more apparent on this record than in their previous recordings, which is a great incorporation, however several of the songs, in particular, Pink Cellphone (which is also a TERRIBLE song title) turns into a tirade of a girl talking about butt fucking, and sounds more like Team Sleep (Chino's side band) than the Deftones. I have always appreciated the mellower Deftones jams, showing the diversity of their song writing chops, but some of these songs are frankly just boring and do nothing for me. The production on this record is very crisp and work especially well for the crunchy bass and drums, and soaring guitar lead lines. The song "Mein" reminds me very much of FAR meets Depeche Mode, which is certainly an interesting mix. I can see where the band is going with the record, however, I feel as if there is a lot of filler which tends to make me want to skip around from track to track which I hate doing. "Rats! Rats! Rats!" brings the lost energy back with a heavy jam that features the incredibly venomous screams Chino is well known for in their earlier work, consequently after this track the rest of Saturday Night Wrist just seems to slip and fall back into a lull that never fully redeems itself.

All in all, this is a great record, and better than their self titled joint, and certainly more enjoyable than most mainstream music churned out by the protools panic at the disco music factory, which I believe is hidden somewhere in Orange County. However, shame shame Deftones, you really could do better. Perhaps more drugs and skateboarding to clear your head?