The Alternative Metal Thread

Deftones - Private Music (2025)

Genre: Alt-Metal

I actually tried to get through Koi no yokan today after starting Private Music and quitting, deciding that my goal was to further profile the band before heading to their new release.  I chose Koi no yokan because it's basically ranked as the third best Deftones album out of their impressive catalog, but the first three songs sounded totally the same even with that obnoxious secondary tagging on RYM: Shoegaze, Alternative Rock, Dream Pop, Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore.  That really pissed me off, So I just went back to their new album.  Besides, after having been underwhelmed by my Sadus exploration, which was necessary for the Metal Academy list challenges, I needed some kind of good album to complete some kind of relevant list I'm working on.  In this case, it's 2025.

Now the first two songs are very short, and despite the transitioning being flawless, the two still manage to change directions and sound a bit different from Koi no yokan.  The third one is weirder, much less reliant on the general Deftones noise at first.  It starts with an industrial beat and sonar-bleep guitar playing.  The atmosphere feels more attributed to standard alternative metal rather than the overused Deftones noise backdrop.  And while track 4, Infinite Source, goes back to the noise, it feels a bit more like the melodic punk-infused alt-rock of the 2000's, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Quite a few of the songs are very short, and sometimes they justify their length with a proper usage of simplicity.  But at other times, the songs may feel undercooked.  And as I expected, despite the occasional change of pace, many of the songs go for the same emotional core and basic sound.  In other words, this is a Deftones album for fans that plague places like RYM.

But you wanna know the most impressive thing?  I cannot believe this singer, Stephen Carpenter, STILL SOUNDS LIKE A FUCKING TEENAGER.  His voice doesn't age.  His voice aging would obviously be a sing of the apocalypse.  This bad is thirty years old, and this founding member is 55.  This is actually something that kept the album going for me, even when it started to get monotonous.  I suppose this is actually my favorite thing about the band.  But as far as the album goes, I REALLY REALLY wish they would focus on the diversity factor more like they did on White Pony.  I mean, what's the goddamn problem?  Most people say it's their best album.  It's the only Deftones album I gave above a 91/100, and by that I mean I gave it a 99.

Overall, this was a fun and surprisingly brisk time for more of the same Deftones.  There was just enough melodic and lyrical imagination to work.  I was never that much of an alt-metal guy, let alone a Deftones guy, but this was fun.  Deftones once again carries the aquatic noise factor of albums like Biomech very well and with a good sense of pacing and slow melodies.

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