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[Alt-Metal]

Deftones

Diamond Eyes

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Deftones, Diamond Eyes

In the four years since the last Deftones release, the band has lost bassist Chi Cheng (who remains in a minimally conscious state since a 2008 car accident) and scrapped an entire finished album. From that chaos, though, has come the group’s strongest effort since 2000’s excellent White Pony. Diamond Eyes is focused, powerful and immediate, with little of the atmospheric meandering that derailed the last two Deftones albums.

The Details

Deftones
Diamond Eyes
Four stars
Beyond the Weekly
Deftones, official site

There’s still variety here; it’s just more concise and organic. The album features plenty of brutally heavy numbers (highlighted by the energetic swagger of “CMND/CTRL” and in-your-face riffage of “Rocket Skates”), but still has room for slower, moodier stuff like “Beauty School” and “Sextape.” New bassist Sergio Vega fits in seamlessly, and the return to the more overtly metal sound of the band’s early days never sounds forced. It may have taken trauma and tragedy to get here, but Diamond Eyes finds the Deftones in a very good place.

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