Ninth Deftones Album "Ohms" is Music for the Year the World Went Viral - Odd Nugget
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Deftones have dropped their ninth album on the ninth month of a chaotic 2020 and it feels like the best birthday gift I could have asked for.
Heavy, substantial and chaotically cathartic, "Ohms" is an anthem for the year the world went viral.
We'll take the scenic route through this musical experience and traverse the album using the official visual tracklist on their site. So check that out to follow along with the Mexican loteria card numbers for each song.
Track 1 - Genesis
Card number 12 (El Valiente or "The Brave One") on the band's visual tracklist transports us to the first song on the album - "Genesis".
An astringent buzz brings this song into focus.
Then, an ebbing wall of sound drenched in distorted slag assaults, brutalizes, recoils and repeats.
"I reject both sides of what I've been told"
Rejecting both sides is as close to an action plan in 2020 as can be distilled from any reasonable source.
With a word of warning, we're dared to "watch how wild it gets".
Track 2 - Ceremony
Card number 6 (La Onda or "The Wave") points us to "Ceremony".
Vocals blow through a blown radio driver.
Twinkling tones scatter over crystal.
Riffs ring out catastrophe amid desperate wails.
"It's an illusion"
Leaving the illusion 'cause "it's not fun here anymore" sounds about right for the year.
Chino and the gang outright reject an abject reality amid clangs of scorching tonal defiance. We're off the fence and whistling through the wind.
Track 3 - Urantia
Card number 35 (La Estrella or "The Star") leads us to Urantia.
Cool riffage billows beneath an artificial atmosphere and hardens on contact with each chorus.
A breakbeat break brings narrow respite piqued with shrouded words.
"I swear I'm losing it..."
Thought adjusters take hold within as chords wrack your cerebrum. Now you've seen the light.
Track 4 - Error
Card number 31 (El Cuchillo or "The Blade") cuts over to "Error".
Sonic scuff and tear invite us into a high octane environ.
A haze of static scratch surrounds as we're pulled across jagged drums. Each chorus rises, imposing, cliff-like, monolithic, over a surf of sonic foam.
"Have we escaped? Are we just lost?"
Colossal doors open against a gale of guitar tones.
Escape...
Track 5 - The Spell of Mathematics
Card number 21 (La Mano or "The Hand") opens up "The Spell of Mathematics".
Insisitent groove drags you out deep...
An incantation, unreal, brings you back from the brink and chills, immobilizes.
"I believe your love has placed its spell on me"
Synapses snap and echo over an empty expanse. You're entranced.
Track 6 - Pompeji
Card number 23 (La Luna or "The Moon") pulls us to "Pompeji".
Calm cradles the senses only to ignite and explode at each verse's end.
Two sides of sound make war with each other...
Locked in a death embrace, they spiral in freefall.
"Jesus Christ, you watch us fail"
Synthetic pads place you neck-deep in a black sea of melancholy as calm wins out.
Electrified, you submerge.
Track 7 - This Link is Dead
Card number 41 (La Rosa or "The Rose") leaves us at "This Link is Dead".
Synthetic sounds hum orange harmony across an empty spectrum.
A voice taunts and enthralls over exuberant rhythm, melding seamlessly into melted music come each chorus.
"That sh!t means nothing..."
Strings howl, heralding an antihero's arrival, then spill tremollo spaghetti down the front of the song.
Shrieks of abandonment abound. You're on your own.
Track 8 - Radiant City
Card number 27 (El Espiritu or "The Spirit") flies us over to "Radiant City".
A glitched out riff kicks stones under tempered, tepid vocals.
Panicked screams scrape sanity out and away, bit by bit.
"Where's the ledge? I can't touch it..."
A city horizon climbs into cloudy sky above, steadfast and threatening.
The ledge leaves your hands and you fall inside yourself.
Track 9 - Headless
Card number 37 (El Mundo or "The World") spins up "Headless".
Sordid groove grinds and perforates...
Bass, igneous, chomps and charrs underfoot until each erupting chorus comes in, all force and acid.
"I could show you..."
You're dropped into a pool of audible restraint for but a moment...
Cool vibes ripple, soft, in the eye of storm, before the rest of the song circles back to you.
Track 10 - Ohms
Card number 46 (El Sol or "The Sun") brings up "Ohms" - the album's finale.
With a wildly gorgeous video, Ohms plays like a good omen...
Exaltic harmony opens up the end of the album, then morphs to tension and implodes at intervals throughout.
"as we slip on through, we promise to meet again somewhere"
This song is an astral trip.
Notes fly as we're sped to a foregone conclusion. Unity rings in lucid light, then withdraws, satisfied.
If you've enjoyed the sound Deftones have nurtured throughout their discography, it'll be hard to be anything but ecstatic about this album.
Check it all out. It's amazing. :)
Read about Lost Talk's "Chrome Alone" next.
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