Deftones - Koi No Yokan

Deftones are back. After 2010's Diamond Eyes, where the main focus was on bass-player Chi Cheng's horrific car accident which has to this day left him in a coma, Deftones have been fairly quiet and it wouldn't be a shock if Koi No Yokan took many by surprise. The album is an absolute beast, but as with most Deftones records, it is intelligent and indicates how much this band knows when to pull out the heavy stuff, and when to rein it in and go with the ambience instead. It's an album that's totally measured and flawless in delivery, Chino Moreno's vocals are back to his screeching and maniacal best.

Lead single 'Leathers' is typical of how Deftones can deliver a wild nu-metal landscape of sound. With quality heavy guitar-lines and hard-hitting vocals, this is simply what this band does. Koi No Yokan is a record which feels like it has a massive amount of cohesion and some sort of narrative, yet every song has its own beautiful quality and heads in its own direction.

It's also great to see Deftones not afraid of doing experimental tracks again, with 'Rosemary' and 'Tempest' leading the line in track length, and the band seem all the better for it. These are both songs which fall in and out of being heavy, drifting into spiritualist and atmospheric-sounding tracks. It gives you the sense that the band are in a really good place musically.

This feels like the best Deftones album ever, and that's a difficult statement to make considering how fantastic their back catalogue is. However, this album is one you have to keep listening to over and over to get a real grasp of understanding. What's great is to see a band which could have crumbled after everything that's happened, rise up and make an album so amazing that they probably have a new lease of life. Hopefully, they'll continue to shine and with Chi Cheng by their side.