Crossing Over: My Review of +++ (Crosses)

Chino Moreno & Shaun Lopez of +++

For clarity, I state up front that the name of this band is the cipher "+++", and you pronounce this as "Crosses".

A great part of my youth in the '80s was spent listening to metal bands like Slayer, Napalm Death, DRI, and others.  In the '90s, it seemed like metal was making an innovative comeback with bands like Korn.  In 1996, I remember sitting in my car in a parking lot in the tiny Arizona town of St. Johns with a Kelly Morales (now the bassist of Arizona metal band, Dead Light Shines).  Kelly was in high school and one of the only other people into obscure metal in this cow town.  In the tape deck was a mix tape sent to me by my brother Tony, another metalhead, living in Utah.  For the first time, we both listed to "Root" by The Deftones.  It blew me away - it's progressive changes from soft to raw, unlike any other thrash band I had heard up to this point.  The aspect that I liked the most was Chino Moreno's voice.  At one instant, his vocals sounding like he was gargling glass shards and bleach, and the next taking on a sultry, breathy "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" vibe.  It was different, but it fit.

Deftones remained a favorite of mine for many years afterwards.  In fact, "Change (In the House of Flies)" remains one of my favorite songs of all time, transcending the metal genre and veering into '80s-style gothic and shoegaze.

That is why I was so excited to learn of Chino's new project, along with longtime friend, Shaun Lopez - a project called cryptically +++, with an album with the same designation.  This would be a departure from Deftone's signature sound and a foray into ambient, trip hop, and witch house (one of my favorite new genres) with Chino's voice as the centerpiece.

I have to admit - the idea of this album is much better than the finished product.  Don't get me wrong.  There are many things that are really good about this album.  I wanted so bad for this album to grab me, to seize me and not let go.  But frankly, I can scarcely get through all fifteen songs in one sitting.

As with most ambient music, this album is better left playing in the background during, say, a dinner party, lightly decorating the background than actively sitting and listening to it.  There are some songs that have already found their way onto all of my mix playlists as of late - like "Bitches Brew" and "The Epilogue",  These are great songs.  The whole album feature's Chino's suave Marilyn Monroe voice, and the beats are hypnotic and mellow.  There are several other good songs like "This Is a Trick", "Trophy", "Nineteen Eighty Seven", and "Prurient".

But ultimately, it has been so long since my last review, because I was trying to give this album a fair chance.  And it was just hard to get through.  Best just download the tracks I mentioned above.