Ohms

Deftones

Deftones' ninth record Ohms really has me on the fence. The only song I really liked from start to finish was Radiant City thanks to its galloping, chromatic guitar riffs and a strong vocal performance from Chino Moreno. The rest of the songs, I'm sorry to say, range from passable to incredibly underwhelming. Error grabs my attention immediately with the noisy guitar and a hint of swagger in the vocal delivery and drums. But when the chugging guitars come in, it becomes just another 'by the numbers' track for Deftones. Genesis isn't groundbreaking either, but when the song kicks in, it is one of the few parts where Moreno sounds pretty great. When the chorus comes around though, the melody is awful and Moreno is barely on key. Moreno's appeal as a vocalist for me is his ability to flow in and out of key in a way that is entrancing. But in the case of this track and many others on the record Moreno is consistently off and rarely offers a compelling vocal melody. I've listened to this record quite a few times now and as I'm writing this, I'm failing to remember any truly standout qualities that will make me return to this record. If it came on, I likely wouldn't put up a fuss or switch it off, but if I really wanted that Deftones fix, there are other albums in the band's discography that could supply it better than this one.