One of my favorite subgenres is Chino Moreno side project.

For all the praise he gets as a metal vocalist, the Deftones frontman has made a considerable amount of noise across the years about how his musical center is actually pretty far from metal, preferring acts like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, and the like.

This push and pull of Chino’s more melodic sensibilities to the band’s heaviness is a big part of what makes Deftones so compelling, but there’s something special that happens when he leaves his bandmates to experiment with other sounds. In fact, my own path to the Deftones started with Palms, his project with former Isis members.

But usually, these side projects are one offs. Until last year when his project Crosses released a completely delicious follow up.

Where Palms and Team Sleep each took different approaches to shoegaze and dream pop, Crosses is almost strictly electronic (surprising, given that the only other member is Shaun Lopez of legendary post-hardcore band Far). While Chino’s voice isn’t totally different than his usual Deftones delivery, the combination of his voice with dark synth atmospheres land the project somewhere between Depeche Mode and The Fragile-era Nine Inch Nails. There’s also a hefty dose of R&B and hip hop influence, especially on the track “Big Youth” which features Run the Jewels’ El-P.

For all of Deftones’ reputation as a sexy band, Crosses takes it even further. The record slinks and whispers and caresses with a tender swagger that challenges Peter Frampton. It’s a romantic record to be sure, though not without its danger. Even the tenderest kisses on this record have teeth.

And while the record is consistently great, the peaks are absolute pinnacles. Opener “Pleasure”‘s percussive bass synth pulse drives it directly into your skull. “Runner” is the sort of song that’s so effortlessly catchy it feels like you’ve known it forever. “Girls Float † Boys Cry” features an absolutely wonderful Robert Smith feature.

Whenever I get a new record, I usually listen to it several times before moving it from my new arrivals pile before I file it in the main shelf. I can already tell though that this isn’t going to be far from my platter.