The dirge riffs of ‘Diamond Eyes’ contrast with both Chino Moreno’s majestic vocals, but the spiritual overtones of the lyrics too. Starting with the explosive, uplifting title track and opener, the entire album is a call to arms. There were fully formed visionary artists. This wasn’t the same band of skater kids from Sacramento that had formed twenty years prior. Sonic ebbs and flows, incredible dynamic shifts, and an insane volume melodies and harmonies abound. Deftones found a place for their pain and it was in the music. Instead of the introspection of their last few albums, there is a lot of charm, verve, power, and hope in the songs of Diamond Eyes. This album is on its own plateau, however. Every album by the band is strikingly different but still rings true. When they came back together, the results were unexpected and wild.ĭiamond Eyes is the sound of a band rejuvenated by the very fight of their lives. They wanted to make music, but the experience with their best friend caused them to shelve Eros, never to be heard ( almost never). As Chi fought for his life (he passed in 2013, RIP), the band was left wondering what to do. Chi was left in a vegetative state, and the band was in shock. The band was nearly done tracking their highly anticipated album Eros in the fall of 2008, when founding bassist Chi Cheng was in a car wreck, on his way home from a funeral.
If you follow the band closely, you know the history. They may have been coming apart at the seams in the run-up to making Diamond Eyes ( Reprise), and you couldn’t blame them.
That is what makes them a special band in the history of heavy music: opposing forces pulling and pushing them apart and back again. Deftones, even at their best, have been a band of dichotomies.
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