Deftones - Private Music (2025)^{Release ID: 61927}

I posted Private Music in a thread on another forum I frequent and got asked by one of the regulars there to help them understand the appeal of Deftones. After a lot of words, I came to the overall conclusion that I respect Deftones because they never attempt to “be” anything. Their range of musical styles and influences could take up a whole paragraph of this review quite easily. However, the comparison I eventually made was that in my experience of metalcore/deathcore, there are some acts who like to step around inside Bilie Elish style electro-pop ecosystems for a few minutes before landing a twenty-second breakdown of crushing riffs to keep some semblance of metal relevant in their sound. For some of these acts, they could quite easily for go the metal parts and just stick with the non-metal if they do it well enough. However, although Deftones work with a blueprint, it is one that exists in such a size already that on their best records, the sky is literally the limit and metal may not always obviously be on the cards.

That having been said. I cannot recall the last time I actively waited for a Deftones album, let alone really enjoyed one in its entirety. Following the huge impact that Diamond Eyes had on me when I returned from a hiatus from metal in 2010 was realistically never going to be repeated, I know. When Koi No Yokan dropped some two years later, I lapped it up most definitely but my levels of fascination with its predecessor were never repeated. Working back from Diamond Eyes into their discography rewarded me with White Pony of course, which will go down as one of my all-time favourite alt metal releases, albeit I do not have an extensive listening history within that sub-set of metal music. When it came then to their more modern records, Gore and Ohms just failed to hold my interest and I drifted from the Deftones world of gazey, alt-metal, trip-hop, dream-pop music altogether.

With more of a focus on new music this year, I soon got wind of the singles ahead of the release of Private Music itself. Whilst neither ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ or ‘Milk of the Madonna’ bristled with any true sense of a reinvigorated intensity returning to the Deftones sound, I have hung fire passing any judgement until the album itself was available. Whilst they were both perfectly inoffensive tracks in isolation, I was more interested in how they fitted into the usual multi-textured layers of a whole album by Chino and co. It does not take long for me to find things that I like very much about Private Music. Whilst in isolation ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ is an appetiser, as an album opener it sets out the stall of the record well. Bold in the riff department, whilst also letting the percussion do its thing it marries perfectly with ‘Locked In’ which then follows a similar blueprint, leading into the chugging ‘Ecdysis’. Exploring the bass to get the pace going before establishing a very familiar sound to the Diamond Eyes era that I am such a fan of adds much needed familiarity for me to this track.

The stories within stories layering of the Deftones writing is alive and kicking still on Private Music. Watch the video to ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ and see Chino dancing to a very different theme to what is playing. This is a good thing for me, seeing the heavier end of their sound being embraced a little more whilst still having an agenda the listener must work on uncovering. Whilst far from perfect, the flow of tracks this time around feels more cohesive than it has in a while. Running the usual musical gauntlet over forty-two minutes there are still some golden runs of tracks, especially towards the end of the record. ‘Cut Hands’ through to album closer ‘Departing the Body’ springs to mind. Two up-tempo pieces followed by a more poised track to finish shows the maturity that the band clearly have at this stage.

Caution remains on calling this a return to form perhaps. If I was ranking the record against the last few over the past fifteen years, then Private Music sits in third behind Koi No Yokan and Diamond Eyes respectively. A large part of me doubts the band can achieve the heights they once enjoyed, but Private Music is evidence enough that the potential remains.

I may have been overly harsh toward Deftones in 2020 with Ohms. I could tell that it was a serviceable project with enough solid moments, but I just could not see it as a standout amongst a discography that includes White Pony and Diamond Eyes. But upon further inspection, songs like “Genesis” and “Pompeji” were stronger than I remember them and Ohms also had a strong production to wipe the slate from Gore.

This new album, Private Music, features the return of Nick Raskulinecz as primary producer. This excited me, since Koi no yokan was also produced by Nick which, while considered a fan favourite, I hold Diamond Eyes in higher regard. And Nick’s presence can be felt almost instantly on Private Music with “My Mind Is a Mountain” having that distinct, early 2010s Deftones sound that was more melodic and atmospheric. Later tunes like “I Think About You All the Time” and “Souvenir” feel deliberate but not boring, leaving the listener in an almost trance-like state; something Deftones are very proficient at.

Deftones are a band that do not have to reinvent the wheel that often given their blend of shoegaze and metal music, even this far into their careers. And sure, Private Music might not be much of a progressive marvel for the group but like with an album such as The Sin and the Sentence by Trivium, you can hear Deftones maneuvering their way through their catalogue in a nostalgic kind of way. I already mentioned how Nick Raskulinecz’s production gives the album a feeling of nostalgia for those early 2010s albums, but as the album gets slower and more longing, pieces of White Pony start to show their face. And of course, you have tunes like “cXz”, “Cut Hands” and “Metal Dream” which feel closer to the original Deftones sounds of Adrenaline and Around the Fur.

Compositionally I really enjoy this record. It is more atmospheric than I would have liked, so I found that some of the truly mesmerizing hooks in the guitar or Chino Moreno’s vocals were a little lacking, but Deftones use space incredibly well. There are sometimes where the guitar work sounds a little bit oppressive through endless wall-of-sound soundscapes, but whenever you have a break as in the outro of “Souvenir”, or the intro riff to “I Think About You All the Time”, it sticks the landing. Also, Chino’s vocals are as pronounced as ever and sound even less like ASMR.

Private Music is just a solid album. For a couple of thirty-five-year-old veterans, Deftones know how to keep a fanbase entertained. Even in their legacy years, Deftones can pull from their past without having it sound derivative. They also have sections that pay homage to the groups influenced by them (i.e. Thornhill on “Milk of the Madonna”). Highly recommended even as a legacy project.

Best Songs: My Mind is a Mountain, Infinite Source, Souvenir, I Think About You All the Time, Departing the Body