They say first impressions are everything. But in the case of the multiheaded beast that is Loathe, it took me about six or seven to wrap my head around their Whole Thing, and another three or four for me to be taken by it. But when it finally got me, it got me big time.

Like many, I first found Loathe through the ultra-hyped single “Is It Really You?” which was as wonderful a bit of Deftones worship as anyone not called Deftones has released. But when I checked out the full record, I was instantly turned off by the chaotic djentcore that made up a large portion of the track list.

Now, I’m not opposed to stylistic shifts. Many of my favorite bands are genre alchemists of the finest degree. I even already loved Rolo Tomassi’s Where Myth Becomes Memory that I was getting into when I was checking this out. But something about Loathe’s jumps felt far less complementary. It almost felt like a bait-and-switch—especially considering just how good the clean-vocal tracks were.

Still, I couldn’t escape the buzz they created—especially since I started playing baritone guitar around the same time this record came out, giving the oft-misunderstood instrument a sudden boost in interest. So I kept revisiting it.

Then one day, it all just clicked into place. Where I had originally seen chaos in the aggressive bits, I saw meticulous order, carefully positioned between soaring ballads and near-vaporwave interludes. And while Loathe is at their most accessible on the tunes where they stick in the more shoegazey corner of their sound, the moments when they blend their two modes together are especially staggering. And while it took me a while to give this record the chance it deserved, I won’t be as suspicious of them the next time around.