While I continue to feel somewhat detached from the current musical landscape, one of the most satisfying developments in recent years has been the establishment of Deftones as sizable, global festival headliners while also being recognised as perhaps the most important and influential act of their generation. Of course, this period has also seen an influx of largely unremarkable and inevitably inferior imitators, who at their worst are still built upon a remarkable foundation, but at best still can’t hope to get within even touching distance of their lofty idols. When we last left Deftones themselves, it was at the peak of their powers, coming off the back of their universally acclaimed ninth record Ohms (2020) , which might just be the band’s definitive accomplishment (if also definitively not their best)—the alt-metal equivalent of Meshuggah’s Koloss (2012), which similarly saw that band returning after years of other bands ripping off (and theoretically building upon) their signature sound, only to put them all instantly to shame, and prove in the process that nobody quite does it like the originals.
Now, half a decade later, Deftones are back with their (actually) highly anticipated tenth album Private Music—the fourth in an unofficial series of Deftones albums with a single, iconic (nonhuman) animal on its cover. It’s in good company, following in the tradition of Diamond Eyes (2010) and White Pony (2001), although also on shakier ground in the company of Gore (2016). Unfortunately, its garish (and decidedly un-metal) colour scheme, as well as my initial assessments, suggest it is closer in kind to the latter, though—like all Deftones albums—it is also a far more intricate and layered record than its still-rich first impressions perhaps imply. While I was hoping for more songs like Ohms' thrashy “Urantia” and mesmerising “Spell of Mathematics”, what we have instead is a softer and more considered, though also somewhat scattered-seeming outing—the Koi No Yokan (2012) to the Diamond Eyes of Ohms, if you will, except without a “Leathers” or even a “Hole in the Earth” or “Phantom Bride” to truly elevate it above the average Deftones offering, even as it continues to tower above their competitors.
Though it is perhaps only miniscule in retrospect, the full brunt of this (mild) disappointment is borne out by “My Mind is a Mountain”, which opens with a pounding, almost Metallica-esque thrash fanfare, before quickly abandon it to reiterate the same sort of track the band have written at least a dozen times since Koi No Yokan. It’s a good song, but it’s also Deftones by numbers. It would be (and is) fine as an album track, but as a lead single and album-opener, it’s a bit of a non-event, coming off at best like a lesser version of “Genesis” from Ohms. “Locked Club” is more promising, coming off like an airier take on their self-titled album’s sound, backed by the ominous down-tuned guitar drone that has become band’s trademark ever since Diamond Eyes. It adds a much-needed sense of urgency to proceedings, with Chino Moreno delivering an oddly inflected sermon that reminds me a lot of At the Drive-In’s “Invalid Litter Dept” at times. At its best, it sounds like a blend of “Digital Bath” and “You’ve Seen the Butcher”. Yet, while this second offering has a lot more of that inherent Deftones spark, but it also never really does anything with it—or at least not anything they haven’t done before.
“Ecdysis” also invokes the band’s past, both in its nu-ish, palm-muted riff and It’s title, which means shedding-skin and obviously connects to the album’s serpentine cover, but also recalls the superior and rather superlative chorus of “Leathers”, as well as the metamorphosis invoked by “Change (in the House of Flies). The record’s “focus track”, “Infinite Source” is Private Music’s most distinctive number, with its main riff centring around an odd collection of ascending doublets that feels like the one time on the album the band really build on and improve upon the airier schematics laid down by Ohms’ closing title-track, rather than pulling from other well-established templates.
The oddly titled “cXz” (get it?) is a more immediate offering that would have made for a good opener, or at least it would have if its synthy, “Passenger”-style intro wasn’t included at the end of “Souvenir” instead of at the start of the track itself. Then again, positioning “Souvenir”, outro and all, at the end of the album in that case might have also given it a fitting, Ouroboros-like circularity. These oddly placed interludes recur throughout Private Music. The outro to “Metal Dreams” similarly seems to have wound up at the start of “Departing the Body”, and the constant crossfading of the tracks into each other likely indicates that they constitute a singular journey that is meant to be listened to and experienced as a whole, rather than being specifically constructed to prevent people like me* from messing with its intended presentation.
There’s also an almost astral-projection-like recurring theme of spirits leaving—or perhaps ascending from—the body, that is most prominent on “Souvenir” and the tellingly titled “Departing the Body” but is more or less consistent throughout that also suggests a narrative as well as instrumental coherence to proceedings. Nevertheless, its sequencing seems suboptimal, with the tracks repeatedly bouncing between heavier and more subdued numbers, without ever letting any particular mood really sink in, and much of its strongest material buried in or at least saved for its second half.
Latecommer “Cut Hands” is perhaps both the heaviest and best track on the album. The song sees some truly immense, down-tuned open notes from Carpenter, backed up by one of Abe Cunningham’s most forceful and distinctive drumming performances in some time, as Moreno shreds his throat amid an idiosyncratic, scatterfire delivery that he hasn’t really lent into since the 2003 self-titled record. One weakness is that its colossal closing breakdown has already been used on “Diamond Eyes” over a decade earlier. Second single “Milk of the Madonna” is another of the album’s stronger offerings that might have benefited from being placed earlier on in its proceedings. Even then though, it is built around a very “Swerve City” sounding bounce and can perhaps only come off as a rehash of that modern Deftones classic, even if I ultimately prefer it.
On the qualitative flipside is “I Think About You All the Time”—whose simple title is apparently enough to have many of the band’s fans salivating—is Private Music’s “Minerva”. A track or two like this has become mandatory for both Deftones and Deftones-wannabes for over two decades now, but it’s never been something that I’ve particularly thought they excel at, and few (besides Diamon Eyes’ “Beauty School” and “Sextape”, or Don Broko’s “One True Prince”) have ever matched the original. “I Think About You All the Time” is no exception. It has the added offense of bringing the album’s momentum back down, just as it was really getting going and any implicit allusion to departed bassist Chi Cheng (1970–2013) can quickly be discarded in light of rather romantic-seeming and uncharacteristically trite lyrics, not to mention an uncharacteristically simple and overly saccharine melody that seems like something Coldplay might concoct in order to lull adulterous CEOs into an unsuspecting sway.
“Metal Dream” also raises concerns by starting in an almost reggae-rock mode. Rest assured though that—like everything else they do—Deftones do reggae a lot better than other bands are at the moment, and the song builds to a more conventional, though no less masterful, spaced-out ending that leads perfectly into “Departing the Body”. This climactic track begins with a spoken word section, reminiscent of Mark Lanegan’s contributions to Queens of the Stone Age’s Lullabies to Paralyze (2005). As its title suggests, this climactic offering again revisits the spiritual-ascension theme, finishing on some suitably Twin Peaks-sounding ambience.
Private Music is at once a more experimental but also safer-seeming album than Ohms. Although that was also not the most original of Deftones releases, it also felt a lot more cumulative than derivative—constituting the culmination of everywhere the band had been and everything they had achieved up until to that point. Private Music is a much more distinctive offering, but it also retreads a lot of familiar ground and never seems quite as convincing in the direction it takes its experiments. As its flowing progression suggests, it is also more an album of moments than concentrated compositions—a riff here and a chorus there certainly stand out, but none of the songs themselves are the instant classics that all of the best Deftones albums are made up of. Nevertheless—while it might not be as immediate as its predecessor, nor the bulk of the band’s prior output—given a bit of time though (and perhaps a bit of an adjustment),** Private Music once again proves why Deftones remain utterly unmatched, even as everyone else endeavours to emulate them.
*Is there even anyone else out there who does this?
**Alright, fine, I did the thing. Suggested (re)sequencing: cXz, Milk of the Madonna, Ecdysis, Infinite Source, Cut Hands, Metal Dreams, Departing the Body, Locked Club, My Mind is a Mountain, I Think About You All the Time, Souvenir.