Much has changed over the last five years. In the time since their previous album, 2020's Grammy-nominated Ohms, Deftones cancelled a tour, bassist Sergio Vega (Quicksand) quit over contract disputes, and guitarist Stephen Carpenter was diagnosed with type II diabetes. The intervening years also saw their share of bright spots: lead singer Chino Moreno quit drinking, and the band's back catalog found a second life thanks to the social media platform TikTok. Often cited as an influencer on younger metal bands and with a slew of viral hits, Deftones are, arguably, more popular than ever. Fortunately, their new album, private music, finds the band reinvigorated creatively and capitalizing on their newfound success with their best work in at least a decade.
The first two tracks, lead single "my mind is a mountain" and "locked club," pick up right where Ohms left off. Where that album was focused and muscular, if a tad monochromatic, these songs improve on that sound with more nimble keyboards and drums placed higher in the mix. Both tracks capture an energy and sense of urgency that was sometimes lacking on Ohms and 2016's Gore.
Everything comes to a head on the first standout, "ecdysis." Named after the process through which reptiles shed their skin, it's a song about transformation. The whole band embodies this beautiful sense of change wonderfully. What starts with Depeche Mode-esque electronic squeals, and a dark, thundering minor-key riff courtesy of new bassist Fred Sablan (Chelsea Wolfe, Marilyn Manson) elegantly shifts into a soaring, swirling major-key chorus. While change has been a long-running theme for Deftones, private music makes clear they view life's changes positively. They've come out the other end with a sense of purpose and joy.
That sense of joy explodes on "infinite source," possibly the best track on the album. Where a track like "Feiticeira" used harmonic-drenched riffs to create something claustrophobic and disorienting, here Stef has written something downright sunny. Emotionally direct and swooningly romantic, the track homes in on what's kept the band going after all these years: the love of performing on stage. Chino's Morrissey-esque call and response vocals during the bridge are a delight.
"souvenir" is a rushing, tumbling epic with a strong Sade influence that feels like an evolution of the epics that distinguished 2012's Koi No Yokan. Between that album, 2010's Diamond Eyes, and this new record, it's clear producer Nick Raskulinecz has a knack for bringing the best out of Deftones. The track showcases, yet again, the band operating with a richer, fuller palette this time out. Not content to rest on their laurels, the track saves its biggest surprise for the end in the form of an extended keyboard outro that works as a de facto interlude between the album's two main sections.
Things get a bit headier in the second half, starting with "cXz." A maelstrom of drums and guitars, it's the album's most abstract offering. While it bears resemblance to "When Girls Telephone Boys," the colorful chorus and electronic-tinged breaks keep the track feeling propulsive, rather than murky and leaden. If the track suffers, it's only in comparison to the more ambitious, fully formed tracks that follow. The track's sense of whiplash is underscored by its placement right next to "i think about you all the time," the album's ballad. The first half, with angular, stripped-down guitar work from Moreno, gives way to a grand second half that recalls shoegazey favorites like "Cherry Waves."
The second single, "milk of the madonna" is another high point. Cut from the same beautifully chaotic cloth as tracks like "Mein" and "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)," the track finds the band firing on all cylinders, in particular drummer Abe Cunningham. The way Sablan's bass bounces around Carpenter's guitar in verse, emphasizing the underlying dissonance, is emblematic of the band's ability to find subtle new contours in their sound. Once again, the pervading mood is one of fun.
Even the album's detour into darkness, "cut hands" and the dub-inflected "~metal dream," has a sense of fun. The former track, another standout, finds Moreno careening between screams and harmonies straight out of Anathema's Weather Systems over jagged riffs and a chaotic bridge with sonics borrowed from The Prodigy (you'll know it when you hear it). The latter track is a surprisingly effective marriage of menacingly noisy verses and stadium-size choruses. Both tracks feature honest-to-God rapping from Moreno.
Oddly, the only real stumble might be the sequencing of the final track, "departing the body." While it certainly feels like a final track, its glitchy intro and outro have the unfortunate effect of making it feel more like a coda to the album. Still, the track is not without its merits. Moreno explores the lower end of his register and winds up with something in the vein of Mark Lanegan or Peter Steele. While the track shares DNA with the verses of Around The Fur's closing track "MX," the band stretches it out into something grand, with just a hint of darkness simmering underneath.
In interviews, Moreno has expressed fears that sobriety would hinder his creativity. private music proves those fears were unfounded. Thirty years and ten albums in, he and his bandmates have not only reconnected with the joy of performing, but they've also turned that feeling into their best batch of songs in over a decade.
