Deftones

Another great band that doesn’t disappoint

Heavy and dreamlike at once, the sound of a band pulling itself out of nu metal by sheer force of imagination. Chino's vocals swing between screamed catharsis and something almost weightless, shoegaze and industrial textures bleeding into what should be straightforward aggression but never quite is. Digital Bath is the clear peak, that wall of noise chorus still gives chills, gorgeous and unsettling in the same breath. Elite goes the other direction entirely, a full blown panic attack of a song, relentless and genuinely unnerving. Doesn't sound like anything else from that era, too melodic for metal purists and too heavy for everyone else, which is exactly why it still holds up. The record that proved there was real art buried inside nu metal.

No reinvention, no throwback, just the band being themselves, which now means crushing you and caressing you in the same breath. Raskulinecz produces for the first time since 2010 and the sound is massive with space still in the mix. Carpenter's riffs feel weightless even while pummelling. More focused than Ohms, and they've stopped trying to prove anything.