Chillwave and alt metal may not have always been the most familiar of bedfellows, but dissolving the boomingly hard-edged alt-rock of Deftones, Com Truise arrives at an interesting proof of concept.
Looking at the original cut of the Californian 5-peice’s Prayers/Triangles, there’s already some surprising affinity between the verse’s dysphoric chord progression and echoing guitar licks, with Truise’s own signature sounds. The New Jersey-producer repurposes these melancholic undercurrents to full effect. Diverting the chorus away from the a headlong launch into crashing rock riffs, Truise injects his own lysergic synth elements and trademarked slow-groove. The muddy crunch of distortion and abrasive riffs are supplanted by infectiously stuttering synth bass, buzzing riffs and shimmering embellishments.
“This one was very exciting and challenging for me as I don’t remix many bands and it was my first time remixing a ‘metal’ track,” Truise shared with THUMP. “I really had to pull the vocals away and start with a blank slate in an attempt to meld them with my sounds.”
Admittedly, the end result could have been a little ridiculous. Stripped of rock trappings and bombastic instrumentals, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno’s tortured vocals sound closer to an ’80s pop ballad than anything else. The track might not hit the strides of the ambrosial material of Truise’s lastest Silcon Tare EP, but in terms of pure genre-blending ambition Prayers/Triangles makes an enticing musical proposition.
Image source: Ghostly