Deftones
private music

Release Date: 08/22/2025 | Tracklist

A more competent Deftones fan could probably list to you, dear reader, all those things that Deftones did or didn’t do on their newest album, ð�‘�ð�‘Ÿð�‘–ð�‘£ð�‘Žð�‘¡ð�‘’ ð�‘šð�‘¢ð�‘*ð�‘–ð�‘�. They may even loiter in the comments, dropping acronyms and drawing on anachronisms to prove or disprove some point or remark (can you feel it?).

To the would-be listener, however, the basic question is this: Is ð�‘�ð�‘Ÿð�‘–ð�‘£ð�‘Žð�‘¡ð�‘’ ð�‘šð�‘¢ð�‘*ð�‘–ð�‘� good music? Seemingly rhetorical (it is good music) but the question could have merit. Instead of considering it a superficial question preceding a superficial response, think deeper. Deftones’ newest album is good music, but compared to what? Comparisons and contrasts is how we ground ourselves in art. We use our own heuristics to form quick judgments. We fire from the hip, seeking forgiveness in hindsight rather than permission in the moment. We navigate life through a series of quick impressions and shallow assumptions because life moves too damn quickly to let sleeping thoughts lie (behold!). But what happens when we feel music?

Frisson: The phenomenon of chills or goosebumps that come from a piece of music

Whether it’s the ending breakdown on “my mind is a mountain� or Chino’s vocals stretching across the cosmos (I can feel it!) in “locked club� or “ecdysis�, there are so many moments on this album that flood my synapses with dopamine that I fail to evaluate the music from any sort of objective standpoint. I hit the replay button like an addict, I recall these moments song by song. I wake up with the “cXz� chorus repeating ad nauseum (one is up, one is down). An 11-track pillbox of nothing but the good stuff.

But what can be said about ð�‘�ð�‘Ÿð�‘–ð�‘£ð�‘Žð�‘¡ð�‘’ ð�‘šð�‘¢ð�‘*ð�‘–ð�‘� is that it is a kaleidoscopic integration of 30 years of Deftones material. It’s pensive and aggressive. It’s sexual and introspective. It’s a morass of downtuned guitars coated, on its surface, with the glitter and cosmic swirlings of tinkling synths and effects. A dreamy and delayed haze permeates nearly every song and that ethereal nature, that tendency to gravitate towards the melodic and the mellow, lends itself to an album that is eminently relistenable. It doesn’t try to challenge or displace its listener. It doesn’t push an envelope and it doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel.

It’s Deftones’ music. And it’s really good music.

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4 excellent