“Ohms” is Deftones’ Best Lead Single in Ten Years
I had a big hole in my face the first time I heard Deftones.
I was a freshman in high school and I had just left school early because, long story short, I literally had my face SPLIT OPEN during a game of intramural street hockey. There was blood everywhere! My friends were super freaked out.
Anyway, while awaiting confirmation of my appointment to get stitches, I threw on Fuse (remember that fucking channel?), which was showing a music video program (remember those fucking things?). I was greeted by a grainy, almost home video-quality music video in which some band called “The Deftones” was performing a song called “Bored” in a heavily graffitied house.
I was blown away. I just sat there with my gaping head wound, absorbing this unique, raw aggression. This machine gun metal riff that exploded into a soaring chorus progression. In ways, it sounded similar to the weaker, more derivative bands I was into at the time — the Breaking Benjamins, the Godsmacks — but it took it to a whole new emotional level. When Chino Moreno screamed the final chorus, it sounded like he was in as much pain as I was (the adrenaline of my injury had run out, pun intended), and something about that moment resonated enough that, days later, I downloaded “Bored” and put it on my fancy new iPod nano (second-gen, silver color).
Later, I was shocked to learn that, despite “Bored’s” brutal riffs and shrieks, Deftones was actually a band that toed a line between loud and peaceful. I discovered other insanely heavy songs like “My Own Summer” and “Engine No.9,” but I also found softer, prettier songs like “Cherry Waves” and “Teenager.” And then there were the songs that brought a little bit of both. “Minerva,” “Hole in the Earth,” “Change (In the House of Flies).”
What was this band that merged Meshuggah with Radiohead? Morrissey with Metallica? I had to learn more, I had to listen to every song.
Fast-forward to today, where I am a Deftones mega-fan and, after a four-year wait, the band has finally released new music. “Ohms” is the first taste of the band’s upcoming album of the same name, and I could not be more excited as I write this blog. I know I speak for other fans in saying that when Deftones puts out new music, it’s a moment. A chance to put everything else on the backburner and float away into a mesmerizing utopia of … well, who knows? It could be spacey, it could be heavy as all fuck, it could be “Minerva.” That is what makes being a Deftones fan so rewarding: the anticipation and the mystery combined. Yet, like many fans, I hold the band to a high standard as a result of this creative niche. There are horizons that must be broadened, but there are also boxes to be checked for both singles and deep cuts, heavy songs and soft ones.
All of this in mind, and with respect to the still-fantastic “Tempest” and “Prayers/Triangles,” “Ohms” is Deftones’ strongest lead single since 2010’s “Diamond Eyes;” it’s anthemic, thick in its production, surprisingly catchy (in that typical Deftones way where it takes a few listens to understand the hooks); it feels explorative but also has the potential to be their highest-charting single on active rock; it seamlessly blends Smashing Pumpkins-esque shoegaze with early-2000s alt-metal. It harkens back to the modern experimental sheen of “Gore,” “Koi No Yokan,” and “Diamond Eyes,” and yet it creatively contrasts nearly everything that made those albums great in their own way.
Most importantly, the song gives us a peek at a band reborn, reengaged despite the times. A lot has happened since Gore came out: a certain fuckface became president, COVID-19 spread worldwide, racial injustice reared its ugly head too many times. Given “Ohms’” reflective, cynical/optimistic lyrics, we can expect an album full of necessary catharsis for these events and more. If there is one band that can capture the spectrum of emotions I have felt these last few years, it’s Deftones.
I will be blasting this song long past the album’s release, and I am chomping at the bit for more; this is what I personally expect out of a lead single from any band, but with Deftones, just like that first experience on Fuse, it has always felt a little bit different, a little more enigmatic.
At least this time I don’t have a hole in my face.
