This is where it all began - the first Deftones record I heard. You can't ask for a better introduction than that chugging riff on Bored, the way it changes down perfectly for the chorus, and Chino's screams of the simple sentiment "I get bored". I've sung this song to myself a million times and I can hold that note a fraction of the the amount of time Chino can.
I've told this story a bunch of times before, so I'll keep it short: when my sister and I were just getting into music, we'd been on holiday with my parents to America and discovered the wonder of cheap music and a favourable exchange rate. She bought six cds, all of which I eventually bought from her - three Silverchair albums, two Marilyn Manson albums and Adrenaline by Deftones. She was big into Manson at the time, and one of her friends had got her into Silverchair, particularly Neon Ballroom. Quite how Deftones fit into this I don't know - possibly she'd heard one of the two big singles from Around the Fur. For whatever reason she bought Adrenaline, and at some point in the trip, I popped the cd into her Walkman and gave it a listen. Like I said, what an introduction I had. I can remember it quite lividly; it was an important moment.
That was just over 20 years ago, but it was the beginning of a lot of things. The following summer Deftones released White Pony and I rushed out to buy a copy the day it came out (I'd pre-ordered the limited edition with the bonus track). I've bought every Deftones album the week it's come out since and I suspect I'll continue to do so as long as they put them out.
You can't fault Adrenaline as a debut album. As a band they upped their game a huge amount for Around the Fur in terms of writing huge singles, and then White Pony was just another level entirely. Remove those comparison points and you still have a great album - Bored, Lifter (with it's outro of "A part of me gets sick / A part of me gets sore"), every single moment of 7 Words (the first time I saw Deftones they broke into Weezer's Say it Ain't So in the break, which was brilliant), Birthmark and the closing duo of Fireal / Fist are all incredible. Fist was particularly exciting because it was so far from the sound they'd established over the previous 40 minutes - almost post-rock - but is criminally missing from the vinyl pressing.
Right now I'm playing this to my three-week-old daughter (her third album so far). I'm not convinced she's getting as much from it as I did on that first listen, but she's much younger than I was when I first heard it.
Format: 12", insert (not photographed)
Tracks: 11
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Bear Tree Records website
When: 09/04/18
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none
