Deftones have also been undeniably in a league of their own.The gap between them and their peers is so wide they are practically in their own orbit. The problem with setting the bar so impossibly high every time you put something out, is how can ever hope to top what you have done before? Well for Deftones, that seems be both the challenge and the lesson they take from each album.
For over a quarter of a century they have been creating groundbreaking, genre bending albums despite the instance of the wider world that they be put into some lazy pigeonholed sub genre. Deftones are their own sub genre and every new album is an event.
OHMS is the follow up to 2016’s Gore, and frankly it’s been a long time coming. Gore was a polarising album, for its more mellow approach after the one – two punch of 2010’s Diamond Eyes and 2012’s stunning Koi No Yokan, so it was with much anticipation the world waited for the follow up.
OHMS is the ultimate Deftones album. No album perfectly encapsulates everything this band does in one package than this one. From the opening moments of Genesis all the way through the closing moments of the title track, this is one of the most majestic, hypnotic and enthralling albums of not only this year, but of the band’s entire career.
There is of course the odd surprise here and there. Error featuring a central guitar riff that sounds like Immigrant Song played on a chainsaw (good luck unhearing that now) was definitely not something I was expecting from this album, but i’m very glad it’s on here all the same.
Speaking of riffs, Stephen Carpenter really has his moment in the sun on this album.Between the aforementioned Error, Urantia, This Link Is Dead, and the razorwire riff that slashes through Radiant City,he has served up some of his chunkiest, heaviest riffs in years.It is his input on OHMS that gives the albuma much needed pulse, ensuring when those heavy moments come, and there are plenty throughout, that they are deployed with maxmimum effect.
Even though OHMS is a much heavier prospect than Gore, fans of Chino’s more ambient leanings, and in particular his more melodic and breathless vocal delivery will still have something to smile about here. Ceremony and Pompeji both contain some truly stunning moments that will satiate fans of the more dreamlike soundscape the band is famed for.
OHMS is a complete home run of an album. Deftones are famed for putting their heart and soul into everything they do. Creating albums that listeners can get lost in for years and years, packed with songs full of secrets that will still being discovered years after the fact.
This album is beatiful and explosive in equal measure, that will take you on an emotional journey through it’s entire runtime. It’s best experienced as a complete body of work rather than as individual songs, but every piece of this puzzle has its own magic to it and will captivate you in it’s own way, but like a magic eye painting it will only reveal everything over time.
To the absolute surprise to no one, Deftones have once again outdone themselves and created another album of the year contender. Proving once again not only how deep and rich their own creative well runs, but also how far away from everyone else they continue to remain.
Ohms is out now on Reprise Records.
