Diamond Eyes [CD]

I've been a long time Deftones fan, but I was not a huge fan of Saturday Night Wrist, I thought it was okay but probably their weakest album. I guess then that I had some reservations about this their next album. I shouldn't have worried, Diamond Eyes is stunningly good. Track 2, "Royal" is raw and visceral and ends with Chino literally screaming as a driving heavy guitar plays out - its a shiver down the spine moment and the stand out track for me - an instant classic. There are many highlights but I think you need to find these out for yourself.
Deftones have always been an acquired taste, the tracks on here are a diverse mix of grace and ambience one moment followed by raw power and force on another. If you fall in to either camp and aren't prepared to embrace both you won't get it - if you are already a Deftones fan you will love it, if you fancy trying something different I think you will soon be converted.

Although I have long been fanatical about this band, I will always admit their faults. For me, self-titled was a record on which they sounded well and truly stuck in a rut. It was plodding, lacking urgency and inspiration. Saturday Night Wrist was more promising but wildly inconsistent. It contains some of their best work - Combat and Rapture stand among their best songs for me - but also some of their most insipid - Xerces, Pink Cellphone, Mein. All the songs in between such as Cherry Waves and Beware, although decent, failed to really stick in my conciousmess for too long. That record was very much the victim of the fractured nature of its own recording.

I worried about Eros as it seemed they were getting bogged down in creating a masterpiece, but as we all know fate tragically intervened. The band was floored by Chi's accident and Eros was indefinitely shelved.

All of which makes Diamond Eyes one of the unexpected triumphs of recent years. Throwing off the shackles of grief and getting back to what they did best on ATF and WP, all with a renewed sense of purpose and energy...well, I can think of no better tribute to their stricken compadre.

The record opens with the title track, which I actually didn't really like at first. It sticks in your head after time though and I now think its the perfect way to kick off the record. It's positive, upbeat, uplifting. Life-affirming. Which is a recurrent theme throughout.

Next up is Royal which, just like Rapture does on SNW, throws you off kilter after a melodic opener in brutal brilliant fashion. Deftones at their powerful best.

CMD/CTRL almost reverts to the hip-hop stylings of Back to School. This one draws you in with its persistent chug and thud.

You've Seen the Butcher is a real standout. A slow, menacing riff underpinned with some nice atmospherics and a knockout bridge/chorus combination. This really takes me back to White Pony era 'tones. Beauty School follows and a brisk, sparse almost 80s sounding arrangement during the verses leads to a powerful chorus that builds in intensity. This pairing of tracks leading up to midway in the record really does build momentum and excitement for what's to follow, absolutely brilliant stuff.

Prince is the most White Pony track on the album, owing mainly to the fact that they seem to have entirely ripped off another one of their own songs, Rx Queen. It's rumoured that this is a response or follow-up to that tune, but in places it really is almost entirely identical. Still, if you're a fan of Rx Queen, as I am, it follows that you will enjoy this a lot.

Rocket Skates we all know very well by now. Again, I wasn't actually too sure about this on first listen but you cannot help but get drawn in by its relentless chugging riff and it works well in the context of the album. This is followed by Sextape which is by turns horizontally chilled and soaring.

What follows next is, in my opinion, astonishing stuff. Deftones do have a knack of peaking towards the end of albums. Around the Fur had the Dai Th Flu and Headup combination. White Pony has Passenger, Change and Pink Maggit, while SNW had the neat Combat/Kimdracula pairing.

Diamond Eyes has Risk and 976-EVIL. These tracks, to me, are two of the most powerful the band have produced to date. Chino has stated that not one song was written specifically about or to Chi but many of the lyrics allude to his feelings around the situation. It's on these two songs where you can hear this most. Risk has to be one of the most emotionally charged songs they've produced and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's one of thir finest career achievements. I could listen to it a thousand times on a loop and get lost in it more with every listen. Ditto for 976-EVIL. This song is epic, stunning and overflowing with emotion. It makes the hairs on the neck stand up every time.

After that pairing of tracks, album closer This Place is Death is something of an inevitable anti-climax, but on its own merits is another powerful tune.

Diamond Eyes has the urgency and inspiration so lacking in self-titled, and the cohesion and consistency so lacking on Wrist. Without a shadow of doubt, their finest record since White Pony. Given the circumstances surrounding the birth of this album, what they've given us really is some achievement and they should be rightly proud.

As if any of them aren't?

I've seriously listened to this thing (since I downloaded it, shhhh, relax I pre-ordered it too) probably close to 30 times straight. It's just 'off the wall' (as Chino vocalizes in one of the tracks, lol)......

There are a couple of light tracks that take a few spins to click, but once they do, they're just as addicting as the heavy numbers. 'Rocket Skates' and 'Diamond Eyes' are honestly just teasers, even if fantastic ones, to prepare you for the rest of the album.

After more than a couple spins, it was obvious that we can at least partially thank Stephan's love of Meshuggah for what I feel is his most crushing guitar tone to date. Frank's creativity with the samples and keys doesn't let up either and it's really cool what he's come up with on this one. As for Chino (one of my all-time favorite vocalists), he's of course in top form........whether he uses his insane scream or his soothing whisper of beauty.....the range and variation is here.

The album contains at least 2-3 tracks that should be solidified in Deftones setlist from now on..........some of my favorite tracks by the band. This album will take listeners through a wonderful journey of fresh noise, while building anew from Saturday Night Wrist, White Pony, and Around the Fur.

Chi would be proud guys......no worries......and my hat goes off to you for losing a brother (hopefully only temporarily) and continuing on, since we all know by now how hard it was to get through SNW in one piece. What's even more disturbing to me is that there is ANOTHER Deftones record, entitled Eros, just sitting on the shelf prior to Chi's accident. Wow......just wow. If they could pull Diamond Eyes off within a mere 6 months, and Eros already before that, I CAN'T WAIT for what else these 5 guys can do in the studio.