Deftones didn’t collaborate with outside artists on record much before Pony, and they haven’t collaborated with artists much since, leaving “Passenger” as an amazing outlier. What matters is two of the greatest frontman are at their best, creating this ethereal, dark beast of a song. Whether the metaphor of being a passenger to someone else’s driver is a dark comment on powerlessness or an avid sex story doesn’t matter. White Pony has largely been considered the defining Deftones album, and one of the core reasons is “Passenger”, the primal collaboration between Moreno and Tool’s Maynard James Keenan. “Doomed User” is about as straight-punk as Deftones can get, and they nail their landings on this fast, thrilling punk ride. You know bassist Sergio Vega was in Quicksand? Yeah, hasn’t really come through yet in his work with Deftones … until Gore.

You know what I love? Hardcore punk and Quicksand.

Where does your favorite song rank? Does it rank? Read on to find out.

Stephen Carpenter’s heavy metal riffs, Chino Moreno’s piercing drawl, and a dash of Frank Delgado’s DJing have always kept the band evolving and adding new sounds to their core. They’ve even managed to survive the tragic 2013 passing of original bassist Chi Cheng, who had spent four years in a coma following an automobile accident. While some of their best work dates back to their debut, their output has remained so consistently strong that even their new record, Gore, cracks this list. Coming up with the 20 best Deftones songs when they’ve had a strong, nearly 30-year career wasn’t easy. People categorize them as survivors of the nu metal wave that broke in the late ’90s, but factually they’ve always been something else. Many people don’t realize that Deftones have been around since 1988.

All deftones albums ranked