As mentioned in the title, this is the promo version, leaked to the internet by the MP3 group EGO.  It contains several tracks not on the retail version ("The New Murderers", "Nightrider", "Iceskates", "The White Pony", "Untitled (Bonus)"; either that or some of them have different titles in retail), and is missing several tracks from retail.

   I don't know many Deftones songs, but the first thing that struck me while listening to this album is, "damn, a lot of these songs sure do sound alike." There's nothing wrong with that, it's just an observation... ha ha.  I can summarize this review for some of you now by saying if you don't like quick hard riffs repeated over and over with electronically garbled lyrics, you won't like this.  The second thing that struck me while listening to this album is "damn, these songs sound alike, but I don't care." The songs are almost hypnotic in their continuity, and there's something disconcerting about that... but maybe that's the point?

   Lyrically, this is different than any Deftones I've ever heard before (of course, the only Deftones I've ever heard before consisted of yelling and "shove it, shove it, shove it").  The first single, "Change (In The House Of Flies)", has a creepy, almost spiritual thing going for it ("I watched the change in you / it's like you never had wings / and you feel so alive / I watched you change..."); it's also one of the lighter songs on the album, in that the constant battering of the distorted guitar is let up in the beginning and slows down at the end for a feedback/fadeout ending.  Other "light" tracks include "Nightrider" (which features instead studio effects and a strong drum backing, with the guitar only occasionally breaking in),

   I was amazed when I read on Sonicnet that this was a lot lighter than the Deftones' earlier material.  If this is so, either the promo was incredibly flawed or I downloaded the wrong album... I'd have to say this is the hardest "light" album I've ever heard.