Dear Billy Corgan (and every other flailing, failing ’90s alt-rock has-been): This is how it’s fucking done. And by ‘this,’ I mean ‘growing your ass up and evolving without watering down your shit or wimping out.’
Love ’em or loathe ’em — and if I’m fessing up here, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Chino Moreno and co. — you gotta give them props: Their ninth album Ohms is a freaking monster. Their trademark mix of punishingly heavy nu-metal riffage, pummeling grooves, searing intensity and Moreno’s moaning, melodic melancholia works just as well here as it did 20 years ago. If anything, it feels more pointed these days. And way more mature, thanks to plenty of big-boy lyrics about finding balance and space. Plus, mega-bonus points for not trying to update their sound or style by jumping on some stupid trendy bandwagon. Instead, they went old-school, reuniting with old pal/old pro studio-rat Terry Date, who helped them deliver the immortal White Pony back in the day — and who helps them crank out their shortest, tightest and most impressive album since then. Bottom line: If you liked ’em before, you’ll like ’em now. And if you’re anything like me, you might just like ’em even more. Suck on that, Billy Boy.
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy-winning, internationally lauded band Deftones have released their feverishly anticipated album Ohms. Speculation about the forthcoming album amongst fans swept across the media landscape earlier this summer, stoking curiosity as the band’s website and social platforms went dark. The intrigue continued to rise when they revealed the striking album art on their site with no additional information. Designed by longtime collaborator Frank Maddocks (who also designed the iconic White Pony LP cover), the captivating album image of two eyes made up of thousands of white pixels cryptically appeared on a billboard in the cultural hot-spot of Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue above the landmark restaurant Canter’s Deli with the caption “This Is Our Time … We Devour The Days Ahead.”
Recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles and Trainwreck Studios in Woodinville, WA, Ohms is an other-worldly body of work meticulously crafted by the five-piece band. It is a magnificent tour de force and their first album in four years, following the critically acclaimed Gore LP in 2016. The band, which includes Chino Moreno, Frank Delgado, Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham and Sergio Vega, has produced a dense LP with every member firing on all cylinders. The album also boasts a familiar collaborator in veteran producer and engineer Terry Date, who worked on 1995’s Adrenaline, 1997’s Around the Fur and 2000’s White Pony. All of the above assembles and sets the stage to deliver Ohms; 10 tracks of raw escapism and unparalleled grooves that have made Deftones’ sound singular for over two decades.”
