Let's try an experiment.  Find a friend who's not savvy to the works of Californian outfit The Deftones.  Give them pen and paper.  Place White Pony, Deftones & new album Saturday Night Wrist into a multistack CD player and hit random.  Now ask them to pick which songs came from the same album.  It's the sad truth that you may end up with a 34 track release.

That's not to say the new album is bad at all - it simply seems the last time Chino and friends really tried anything new was after 1997's Around The Fur and the result was an album they seemed to have sequelled twice.  Still, if practice makes perfect then it makes sense Saturday Night Wrist would have something special, and in a way it does - The production is awesome.  Unlike prior releases there isn't a single point on this album where the sound lifts to a distorted clash... even at the heavier moments Moreno's vocals glide around each instrument without ever being the only sound you'll hear.

Putting aside for the time-being that they haven't re-invented the wheel, there are still some damn good tracks here;  'Beware' for example is classic moody, ethereal Deftones.  'Mein' (featuring System Of A Down's Serj Tankian), 'Kimdracula' and 'Rats!Rats!Rats!' are all noteworthy rockers with the latter finding Chino sounding like (late era) Faith No More's Mike Patton.

Instrumental 'U,U,D,D,L,R,L,R,A,B,SELECT,START' (is that a Playstation cheat code?) is rhythmic, haunting and beautiful; as is Industrial/Electronic and equally intriguing 'Pink Cellphone' where Giant Drag's Annie Hardy shares vocal duties (with some pretty nasty things to say at the end).  The unique approach on these two that contend them for two of the best works on Saturday Night Wrist.

I feel I should make something clear - I like the Deftones.  I've bought every album (including this one), but I don't think I'm alone waiting to hear something that makes me say "Wow, really?  That's the Deftones?"