10 Amazing Hard Rock Concept Albums

Outside of a choice few bands to come out of the nu metal era of hard rock, Deftones always seemed to hold on to their metal credentials. Even with their history of weaving in elements of dreampop and shoegaze into the mix, they were never afraid to bring in the heavy guitars and for Chino Moreno to let out screams that could peel paint off the walls. That was the beginning of their nu metal phase, and White Pony is where things started to really get out of hand.

Starting at the recording sessions, the band were getting out of their minds on drugs most of the time, spending the first few weeks in the studio doing nothing but playing video games and getting messed up. While the record doesn't necessarily have a linear storyline or anything, all of these serve as little vignettes of what was going on in their minds at the time, from the murder love story on the song Digital Bath to their dependence on their vices on tracks like Rx Queen.

There's a preoccupation with the dark side of life on most of these songs, from how people incite violence on Knife Party and Change being the mission statement of how and why people's identities seem to shift towards something a bit more nasty than you would be in public. Things can get pretty dark behind closed doors, and Chino's stories on here give us a peek behind the curtain of what that life is like.