Album Review: Deftones - private music
Reviewed by Tim Finch
Deftones are a band who need no introduction, having formed in the late eighties, it wasn’t until the debut album ‘Adrenaline’ in 1995 that they built a worldwide foundation from which they would launch a glorious career. It was in this post-grunge era that the alternative community needed something new, something different to latch onto and Deftones provided just that. The right band, in the right place, at the right time.
Fast forward thirty years from their debut and we wait with bated breath for album number ten, ‘private music’, five years on from their last opus ‘Ohms’
The bands fans will be more than familiar with the album opener ‘my mind is a mountain’ which the beating heart for what is about to come, it heavy, dark, introspective and bombastic all in two minutes forty seconds of sonic abuse focused on mental health and the pitfalls there in.
The album is full of songs that feel both dark and light, heavy and mellow all at the same time, it’s a unique gift the band have when writing material that no one else has been able to replicate. All these years into their career they still stand alone, like no other and one listen to any track on ‘private music’ leaves you in no doubt who you are listening to.
‘Ecdysis’ builds to a crescendo that when it reaches its peak, it doesn’t descend from until the feedback of those fuzzy guitars fade out. ‘Souvenir’, the albums longest number, blasts out of the blocks with a raucous riff that soon mellows to the Deftones unique shoegaze haze, rising and falling like the tide between the two states of being.
For the majority of the album, there is a steady pace, never faltering despite the waves of dark and light. ‘I Think About You All The Time’ changes things up, its softer, Chino’s vocals quiet, refined, genteel, the volume sitting low. Whilst a burst of sound does slowly build, the track remains a constant calm amongst a sea of angst.
After that brief interlude ‘Milk of Madonna’ steers the album back to its previous path with a wall of sound hitting the listener square in the face. ‘Cut Hands’ adds an element of rap to proceedings that takes you back to the late 90’s whilst album closer ‘Departing the Body’ suitably rounds things out, spoken words atop acoustic guitar draw you in before the intensity rises one final time.
In ‘private music’ Deftones have delivered one of the most powerful albums of their career, long removed from the rawness of their first two releases. This is the Deftones sound refined to peak performance, polished to the point which they may not be able to top going forwards. Only time will tell what comes next.
