While imperfect, “Elite” abhors depression and a selfish lust for fame.
Dark stuff. Loosely connected streams of consciousness flow through ravines of hopelessness and despair. An intoxicated guy gets tied up and stuffed in the trunk of a car by an abusive woman (“Feiticeira”). Imagining his girlfriend as a common housefly on “Change (In the House of Flies),” lead singer Chino Moreno says sadistically, “I pulled off your wings, then I laughed.” The bizarre “RX Queen” finds him praying “for the death of everything new” and telling his girl, “I’ll steal a carcass for you, then feed off the virus,” as if planning some morbid dinner date. “Digital Bath” lacks clear marital context in its description of a couple frolicking in the tub. Also vaguely erotic, “Passenger” uses a car as both the location of and metaphor for a wild sexual encounter. A bitter, angry man threatens someone who has wronged his “whore” (“Pink Maggit”). Lyrical chicanery will also anger parents: A verse on “Street Carp” appears in the liner notes as “Take it home and have fun with it,” but is sung “Take it home and f— with it.”
Creepy. Aggressive. Deftones’ guitar-driven rage-rock summons images of a dank torture chamber. Vocals scream ferociously one minute and float like a spellbound siren in a gothic nightmare the next. Even worse are this California-based band’s malicious—if somewhat obscure—messages. White Pony delivers a rough ride.