David Hoefs's outstanding video for legendary alt-metal outfit Deftones reaffirms the power of the medium as a means of untrammelled artistic expression.

The video for Milk Of The Madonna is, essentially a piece about surrender and rebirth - 'a sensory trip from chaos to clarity and the mental landscapes in between', according to the director and production company Bandiz. It's also surprising and uncompromising: a rapid, almost random succession of images, using a range of formats and techniques. The exact opposite of 'dreamlike', it nevertheless gives the effect of a restless, agitated dream.  

The central character is a young woman, who ultimately will find her way to a giant man-made wonder of engineering - a hydro-electic dam. It's a journey in which she loses herself but finally re-emerges and achieves a resolution.  

Hoefs has evidently been given free rein by the band - and Warner's just-as-legendary commissioner Devin Sarno - to experiment, stretching the idea of narrative to allow the viewer find their own story, while being drawn into the almost hypnotic fusion of music and visuals. 

With that freedom, Hoefs has created something almost radical by the conventions of mid-2020s music video-making - and confirmed that he is one of the most exciting talents working in the medium right now.