Diamond Eyes
Before bass player Chi Cheng’s 2008 car accident left him comatose, Deftones were working on an album titled *Eros*. But the band didn’t feel right forging ahead without Cheng, so they shelved *Eros* and waited patiently before finally deciding to work on a different project with Sergio Vega, former bassist of the post-hardcore band Quicksand. *Diamond Eyes* was recorded with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Stone Sour) who helped give Deftones’ sixth album a much more atmospheric sound than 2006’s *Saturday Night Wrist*. “Royal” leans on dark Sabbathy sludge and a pummeling rhythm section, but singer Chino Moreno contrasts his blistering screams with breathy crooning. Moreno’s lyrical matter detours from negative themes and cathartic complaints on Diamond Eyes — he even stated in an interview that Cheng’s accident brought the band closer together, giving the album a “positive zest for life.” Standout track “Rocket Skates” best exemplifies this with imagery similar to “Knife Party” from 2000’s *White Pony*.
There are moments on Deftones’ first new disc since 2006—and first without bassist Chi Cheng, who’s been in a minimally conscious state since a 2008 car accident—that sound a bit like a band on auto-pilot. Luckily, though, the title track and “Royal” stomp such limp moments with pleasingly crude riffs that claw and…
A long four years separate Diamond Eyes from Saturday Night Wrist, four years that were sadly packed with peril for Deftones.
When Diamond Eyes isn’t trying quite so hard to be a great record, it ends up being a pretty good one.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are no doubt aware that my case today, Deftones, hit it big around 1997 with the likes of Korn and Limp Bizkit, a then-popular...