Deftones : " Ohms"

 

The Deftones are the one nu-metal band who rose from the confines of the genre to shed the Juggaloo future of the genre awaiting  if they had not seen themselves change. The opening track, is what you expect from them. Chino's screaming is more of a squeal . The anger is not really there and he wants more Netflix and chill. But as a song if you like the Deftones then the fact they are older and more laid back aside , this is what you are looking for . Though the bass is obscured in the mix, though that is what keeps this from having the thumping drive they used to . I like the palm muted riff that brings tension going into "Ceremony" . It has more of a post -punk vibe. Nothing new the Cure has been an influence on these guys since "Around the Cure" . This mellower but has a stronger groove. His vocals also work better here. The first real touches of metal do not come until "Urantia' but once it gets to the verse we are back in a Cure direction, though the chugs return. It's a good balance of their two polarities . With this said the Cure is one of my favorite bands , so if you are more into their metal side, well...

The use flanged out feed back to set a heavier mood to "Error" . It does recapture the old school nu metal bounce, but smoothed out by the atmosphere. However in terms of song writing a little more dialed in than the first three songs. The first time I really hear the bass is on "the Spell of Mathmatics" . The songs rehashes some musical themes we have already heard, but still works, if they keep up the palm muted thing I am going to hold it against them. There is more of a "White Pony" feel to " Pompeji" I do think it's a interesting choice to use kraut rock to bridge this song with 'the Link is Dead" . They havea more feral feel to the outburst that propels this song, Far from their heaviest moments , but that ship has likely sailed at this juncture. 

"Radiant City" is more frantically pace. The guitar tone is not as sturdy, but it works for what this song does. I like where it goes on the chorus. The melodic evolution is a solid dynamic. Hands down the best song is " Headless" it captures the sensual sense of groove that I want from them, s lets face it there was something sexy about "Around the Fur" and this song captures that.The title track is the first song I heard from this and it seemed a little straight forward rock n roll and not the most inspired. It has grown on me but not a great deal . I will round this up to a 9. Much like everything after 'White Pony" it doesn' come close to touching those first three albums, but if you are already a fan it will trigger your memory response of those days and you will think this is almost as good.