It's here now, and not to rush judgement, but that's exactly what it is.ĭeftones told Kerrang! earlier this year that they've always had a volatile relationship with Terry, who either quit or came close to quitting every time he worked on an album with them, but it’s impossible to deny that he knows how to make Deftones sound better than anyone else does. Even before we heard a note out of it, Ohms seemed like it could be an exceptionally significant Deftones album, a highlight of a consistently great, 25-year-long discography. And that anticipation is even more heightened by the fact that it's their first with producer Terry Date - who helmed their classic albums Around the Fur (1997), White Pony (2000), and Deftones (2003) - in 17 years. So Deftones aren't in need of a 'comeback' album or anything, but the anticipation for Ohms that's been building over the past four years makes it feel like even more is riding on this album than is usually the case for Deftones. Like Deftones' own heroes Hum (who released a fantastic album this year, their first in two decades), you can hear their influence on up and coming metal/hardcore bands like Higher Power and Loathe, and in basically any heavy band who crosses over into shoegaze. Even in the time since their last album (2016's Gore), Deftones' influence on modern music has become more prevalent. That's only grown in the decade since then, as Deftones continue to keep making great music, get positive critical re-evaluations for older albums, and be namedropped as an influence by rising bands. There aren't really any major lulls in their discography, but 2010's Diamond Eyes - which is now widely considered one of their strongest albums - marks the moment when Deftones solidified themselves as a band who would be just as significant in the 2010s (and now 2020s) as they were in the 1990s. Even many of the best nu metal and nu metal-adjacent bands have long coasted on nostalgia, but Deftones have been gaining new fans and keeping old ones interested off the strength of their new music for pretty much their entire career.

Deftones haven't been classifiable as nu metal in decades, but still, for a band who ever had 'nu metal' attached to them at any point in their career, they've pulled off an impressively unusual amount of longevity.

Top 10 deftones albums