11th Album: DETOX

DETOX is ONE OK ROCK’s eleventh studio album, released worldwide on February 21, 2025, and positioned as a major milestone around the band’s 20th anniversary. Rather than functioning as a simple continuation of Luxury Disease, it frames itself as a reset in intent: a rock-forward record built around tension, urgency, and the need to regain clarity in a world that feels increasingly unstable. The album includes 11 tracks and follows a concept-driven approach that prioritizes message and cohesion over a loose collection of singles.

A key part of what makes DETOX distinct is how it was assembled. Taka described an unusual process in which he first created a 30–40 page concept "book" outlining the album’s core themes and direction, then shared it with collaborators to align everyone around a single vision before writing and recording in full sessions. That method matters, because you can hear it in the structure: DETOX does not just toggle between "heavy" and "soft" for contrast, it moves like a guided arc. Songs such as NASTY, Puppets Can’t Control You and Delusion:All carry open confrontation and frustration, while tracks like Dystopia and +Matter turn that same pressure inward, focusing on endurance, meaning, and whether connection is still possible when people feel cornered. Importantly, the album’s stance reads as change and rebuilding rather than "erasing" society altogether, even when the language is blunt.

Musically, DETOX recommits to a harder rock core while keeping the modern, internationally tuned production the band developed across their recent era. The album credits a high-profile production lineup (including Rob Cavallo, Dan Lancaster, and Pete Nappi), and it uses collaboration selectively as texture rather than novelty, most visibly on C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y., which features Paledusk and CHICO CARLITO. Domestic and international editions share the same tracklist, with the international release featuring partial lyric differences.

Commercially, DETOX opened strongly in Japan, peaking at number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Albums chart and reaching number 1 on Oricon’s Japanese Rock Albums chart, while also hitting number 2 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums. Internationally, it also registered in the UK, including a top-10 peak on the Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart and a top-40 peak on Album Downloads. The reception was shaped by the same thing that defines the album: it is pointed. Even where the sound is polished, the writing carries a heavier emotional and societal weight than the more outwardly pop-leaning period before it, and that seriousness is part of why the album landed as "important" rather than merely "new."

Visually, DETOX extends its message through a cover built around fan imagery and a distorted flag motif. Using audience photography from the ONE OK ROCK PREMONITION WORLD TOUR 2024 places listeners at the center of the album’s identity, while the melting, abstract flag reads less as a literal political banner and more as a symbol of a world under strain. In combination with the title, the artwork supports a simple idea: detox as release of buildup, pressure, and isolation, and a push back toward connection and renewal rather than destruction.

Ultimately, DETOX functions as a mission-statement album for ONE OK ROCK’s current era: a rock record with a deliberate concept, written as if it needs to mean something "right now." And while the studio album provides the blueprint, the DETOX touring presentation is where the idea fully locks into place. Experienced live, the songs read less like separate tracks and more like a single narrative of escalation, release, and regrouping, reinforcing what the band has insisted for years: this music is designed to be completed in the room, together, in real time.

In a world where nothing was lacking, ONE OK ROCK believed all was peaceful. But god thought otherwise. To him, peace could only exist because there was chaos elsewhere. To make them see this truth, god scattered mysterious bacteria across the world, aiming for balance. A strange disease spread, and soon fungi covered the earth. Now, the world was finally "balanced". With the surface world no longer livable, humanity fled underground. To escape the bacteria, they created a virtual world far beyond the reaches of the sky. Instead of coming together, people began fighting over territories even in digital space, which soon escalated into virtual-world conflicts. The real world was uninhabitable, filled with fungi. The virtual world was unsafe, filled with endless conflict. A powerful, wealthy figure decided to create a make-believe "AI god". "Let’s all worship this god", he declared. Once again, people believed this god would solve all their problems, and that peace was something that could be bought. The AI god gradually removed all the fungi covering the world. The virtual world, now at peace, began to greatly enhance society’s infrastructure. It seemed like the world was finally moving toward a brighter future. The AI god became a marketable product, sold worldwide. This brought immense wealth to its creators, but further deepened the divide between rich and poor. As people relied more and more on the AI god to provide all the answers, they lost the ability to think for themselves. ONE OK ROCK finally understood. Peace can only exist because there is chaos elsewhere. The important thing is realizing that there are things you still don’t know. ONE OK ROCK grabbed their microphones and began to sing. Their song eventually reached people all around the world. It helped everyone realize that music could express what words alone could not. Music speaks to the soul, beyond just empty worlds. In a live venue on the surface world, people from all walks of life gathered. ONE OK ROCK proudly raised their microphones and began to sing. The mission: to "DETOX" a world filled with poisoned thoughts. BE FREE.