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The 11 best Deftones songs
Why have a Top 10 when you can have one more? Here are our 11 favourite Deftones songs, ranked
Deftones hold an enviable space for any respectable rock or metal band. Creating their own dynamic, gargantuan sound that churns thick riffs and crashing rhythms while encompassing an ethereal fragility, over the last 30 years the Californian band have won admirers from all walks of life and musical spheres, and are the ultimate benchmark of alternative metal.
Off the back of a momentous show at Crystal Palace Park in June, today Chino Moreno, Abe Cunningham, Stephen Carpenter and Frank Deldago return with the new single ‘my mind is a mountain’, the lead single from forthcoming tenth studio album Private Music. With news that the band are returning to the UK in February with shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and London, we take on the task of ranking the 11 best Deftones songs.
11. ‘Ohms’
(Ohms, 2020)
The closing namesake of the band’s eighth studio album, ‘Ohms’ has two huge, crunchy intros – something Deftones do very well. Named after the unit of electrical resistance between two points of a conductor, very much like the opposing forces in Chino’s lyrics and the polarised dynamics that define their sound.
10. ‘Hole In The Earth’
(Saturday Night Wrist, 2006)
An explosive exercise in melancholy, ‘Hole in the Earth’ captures an array of troubles shadowing the creation of Saturday Night Wrist and feeling, quite literally, like you’re in a pit of hopelessness. And yet, if you ever feel like that, put this song on and feel how it seems to digest the despair away with its crashing catharsis and slippery vocal hook.
9. ‘Entombed’
(Koi No Yokan, 2012)
Another song in which Chino finds himself entrapped or buried, but this time by an all encompassing devotion to something – the subject of which fans have debated between his daughter, a romantic love, or even the late Chi, the band’s founding member and bassist who was comatosed after a tragic car accident in 2008. The tapping guitar serves as ‘Entombed’ through-line, dripping in devastating emotive power.
8. ‘Cherry Waves’
(Saturday Night Wrist, 2006)
Flowing with a sound that drifts dreamily between shoegaze and trip-hop, ‘Cherry Waves’ trades the band’s characteristic huge intro for an understated and brooding atmosphere, amplifying the drop. Chino’s soaring vocals are among his best here, with the oscillating “Youuu” providing brief moments of sweetness.
7. ‘Swerve City’
(Koi No Yokan, 2012)
If the heavy groove of ‘Swerve City’ doesn’t make you feel all “Oh hell yeah!” then what will? Again, the piercing texture of that high-pitch electric guitar wail perfectly compliments the distorted and droney rhythm driving the song. An absolute belter that pops off live and a great entry point for those new to the band.
6. ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’
(Around The Fur, 1997)
One of the most recognisable beginnings to a song from the late 90s MTV era with its vac-pac tight snare and Steph Carpenter’s menacing, cascading guitar line, ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ has stood the test of time leaving many of its nu metal peers in the ashes. The track was written amid an especially hot summer, and with that weary pace, radiates a sweltering heat as Chino dreams of peace and shade.
5. ‘Minerva’
(Deftones, 2003)
‘Minerva’ is probably the best example of Deftones’ shoegaze output, with a chorus that makes you want to sing your heart out back at them: “God bless you all / For the song you sang us.” The song’s video, shot over almost 24 hours in California’s Colorado Desert, is well worth a watch.
4. ‘Change (In the House of Flies)’
(White Pony, 2000)
White Pony‘s lead single and undoubtedly one of Deftone’s most essential and popular songs, ‘Change (In the House of Flies)’ aptly signalled a new direction for the band which lead them on their own progressive path. The song is a Kafka-esque story of metamorphosing into a fly, though there are elements of voyuerism that are eerily emphasised through Chino’s breathy vocals.
3. ‘Rosemary’
(Koi No Yokan, 2012)
A song about time travel, ‘Rosemary’ is a song that lulls the listener into a dream state with it’s clean, trickling guitars and expansive vocal melody, until that ominous bass line begins to rear its barbed head and the chunky chords chug in a call-to-arms. Instead of dropping into a thrashy section as many of their other tunes would, the band maintain that dreaminess in spite of the sharp-edged tones – that is until one of the filthiest breakdowns ensues.
2. ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’
(Around The Fur, 1997)
‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’ is for anyone who’s felt that bottled up desire to leave the humdrum of their hometown. There’s something both sparkling and dissonant about the opening moments that disarms you, and though you think the track might drop into a big thrashy bruiser, it’s actually a straight up rock song that instantly sweeps you up and guides you along in its head-banging, youthful angst.
1. ‘Sextape’
(Diamond Eyes, 2010)
Perhaps controversial given it’s one of Deftones’ lightest songs, ‘Sextape’ is nevertheless a perfect example of the band’s cathartic superpower, a song that surges, builds and breaks as “The sound of the waves collide.” Speaking about the song, Chino once noted that, “For the simple fact that it doesn’t have any crush guitar, screaming or anything aggressive on it, ‘Sextape’ sounds really big.” It’s a singular song in the Deftones discography, tender and sweet but with an after-dark seductive desire. As with all the best Deftones songs, there’s a sole word to sing and hold on to: “Toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”
