10 Recent Hard Rock Albums You Should Listen To Right Now
9. Ohms - Deftones
Deftones are legendary for the immaculate balance in their music. Their formula is a perfectly balanced tightrope walk, allowing for both brutal metal and dreamy vocals, but not letting either ruin the other’s taste.
Ohms is Deftones at their masterful best. Perhaps the best example of that is the song “Urantia”. It starts off with a powerful riff sequence. But just as it builds to a crescendo, we quickly do a 180 and transition into a softer, more groove-infused part. Special mention to Abe Cunningham’s drums for the latter. The interplay serves to create a spectacular musical journey, especially when the heavy riff comes back and eventually carries Moreno’s ethereal vocals into the chorus.
This fluctuating pattern is maintained all throughout the album. One minute fans can be sedated by the synth-infused gloom of “Pompeji”, another they can be slapped into a frenzy by the hard-hitting “This Link is Dead”.
Few acts have been able to utilize a clash of styles as well as Deftones. And this was a perfect example of that.