This is less of a review, and more of an account of my rapid decent into obsession.  It’s coming a few weeks late, because I have truly struggled with how to actually write any words about this album.  It grabbed me completely, from its opening moments, and still has not complete let go.  

On Friday the 25th of September, Deftones released their ninth studio album, Ohms.  I am a longtime fan, but never to the point of clambering for their latest release.  I always buy their records, and I always enjoy them, but I’m rarely in a rush to get hold of them.  

For this particular album though, I set out to hear it as soon as it was released – so as per usual, I awoke at 5am, but as I sipped my morning coffee, I listened to this record instead of my usual morning podcast.  Instantly, and I mean that literally, I was hooked by Ohms.  

Usually, I listen to an album in it’s entirety, and then start writing about it on the second listen.  Once Ohms had finished, I set out to do just that, but found myself distracted by the album, and unable to form any semblance of sentence that was anything but nonsense.  Throughout Friday, I listened to the album approximately nine times…

On Saturday 26th September, I awoke, again with the intentions of actually writing something down.  Alas, once I hit play, I slipped straight in to the trance that Ohms seems to inflict on me.  The able played on repeat while I performed routine tasks, but words would not present themselves.  

Fast forward to the following Friday – I have listened to nothing but Ohms for eight plus hours a day for a solid week, and not even slightly lost interest in it.  Friday’s are “release day” though, so I thought maybe o should force myself to listen to something different.  Enter Corey Taylor’s “CMFT” solo album, and three tracks in, I’ve unconsciously returned to the now very familiar sounds of what is in my opinion, Deftones finest record.  Yes, I truly feel that Ohms trumps even White Pony.  

It was at this point that I admitted to my fellow Noise Pollution writers, how stuck I was – and took Greg’s suggestion to form a bit of a timeline surrounding my slide into obsession.  Even that was too much to actually pull together at the time.  

Anyway, here we are three full weeks later, and I’ve finally been able to listen to other music, and finally putting words down about the album – I am listening to it as I type though, and it is still utterly fucking mesmerising, hypnotic and superb.  

The title track was the first taste, and it left a lasting impression for sure, but there are so many other hauntingly great tunes.  The Spell of Mathmatics is ethereal, while Genesis his heavy and full of life.  

There is not a bad moment on this record, again, that’s only in my opinion, and clearly I’ve been touched by Ohms in a way that not everybody will experience, in fact, maybe nobody will feel the same as me. 

All I know for sure is that Ohms will take the number one spot in my end of year top ten list.  

10/10

Shayne McGowan.