Review /// Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Deftones – Diamond Eyes
May 2010 | Warner Brothers [9.5 /10]

Its been a rough past few years for the Deftones dealing with the sudden automobile accident involving their bass player Chi Cheng who has been suffering sever injuries for the past two years. I was very surprised when I heard that they were going to continue writing for a new record and even playing considering the most recent events but I think its truly what fueled their creativity for “Diamond Eyes”. For many Deftones fans this is the record we’ve been waiting for, and its almost as if they have started over again. This breath of fresh air features eleven new songs that resemble the sonic qualities of their previous albums “Adrenaline” and “White Pony”.

When I first listened to this record I couldn’t get through the first song without stopping it to start over again to grab a pair of headphones. There is such a unique quality about the recording that its best to listen to with a nice set of headphones so you can really capture everything that goes on. There are so many elements that are sort of hidden in the back behind all of the music (like subliminal messages, only with 8 string guitars and weird effects pedals). This recording has a very thick and heavy overall sound to it and its something the Deftones didn’t really have on their previous album (“Saturday Night Wrist”). They do have a way of repeating the past on this record and it goes deeper than just their sound. I’m sure most people wondered who they got to fill in on bass for the recording due to Chi’s accident and the answer to that question is Sergio Vega (Quicksand). Sergio is no stranger really to the Deftones, he filled in for them back in the 90′s for a tour due to Chi being unable to perform as well as Quicksand hitting the road with them for a tour. The notable picking style of Sergio is very noticeable on this record and the bass is defiantly a driving force behind the overall “thick” sound.

The title track “Diamond Eyes” is the first song on this album and it sort of connects all of the different atmospheres into one song and brilliantly portrays what this album is about, sonically and lyrically. Ideally that is what an opening track on a record is suppose to do, but not many band pay that close attention when it comes to writing a record as a whole instead of just individual songs. There are a lot of hits that follow this and I almost feel like I would be leaving something out but some of my favorites include “CMND/CTRL”, “Prince”, “Risk”, “Beauty School”, “Rocket Skates” and “This Place is Death”; but believe me there is not one bad song on this entire release. If your a fan of their heavier material than you will find it in many of these songs and if you like the softer more melodic side to the Deftones than you will find this record to be no stranger to that either. The one difference between “Diamond Eyes” compared to the rest of their catalog is that these songs carry a lot more emotion with them and I’m sure a lot of that has to deal with what the band has been going through the past two years. This album is proof of how they dealt with the situation and they really ended up creating a masterpiece that captures the beauty and emotion as well as anger and frustration that all of them have been going through. This is with out a doubt a “Deftones” album and I really think they set their standards high for when it comes time to hit the studio again in the future.