Formed in Sacramento in 1988, Deftones emerged from the nu-metal wave but quickly outgrew it, using Chino Moreno's whisper-to-scream vocals and a wash of shoegaze- and dream-pop-indebted guitar texture to make heaviness feel atmospheric rather than blunt. Their 2000 album White Pony reframed what alternative metal could sound like, trading macho aggression for something hazier, sexier, and harder to categorize. That soft/heavy, mood-first architecture has made them a reference point for practically every 21st-century band trying to be heavy without being simple.

the sound in question

2000

Change (In the House of Flies)Deftones