Album Review

Deftones – Diamond Eyes

• 23rd Jun 2010

Ok ok, the Deftones new album. Having already heard that they put in a bit of a weak performance at Download this year one can only get curious as to whether this was down to the new material. So it was with an attentive ear that i approached “Diamond Eyes.”

Well it begins in home territory with the title track. Yeah nothing to note except so far so Deftones. This also being a single makes me think this is going to be Deftones with nothing new up their sleeve – but merely to add to their back catalogue with an instalment that is not out of place. It covers the fan base wants but doesn’t try to over reach into uncharted territory.

It does pitch up a bit with “Royal” which is all together a braver and harder hitting track – but again it pretty much sticks to format. It’s just a better song than “Diamond Eyes.” If anything though “Royal” sounds like what Smashing Pumkins might sound like if they were harsh punk. Chino Moreno spends a lot of songs screaming versus before bringing out his tamer side for choruses, which Deftones’ fans will be accustomed to.

There are some nice tunes that are worth hitting the rewind for like “Prince” which is atmospheric and holds a lot of weight as does latter track “976-Evil”. But for every track worth hitting rewind for there is also a track worth hitting skip for too.

The other single from the album “Rocket Skates” makes up for the tame “Diamond Eyes” by being an altogether more raw and energized piece of rock. If anything it’s very far removed from a commercial sounding song and for this reason may also not do as well.

The album at least goes out on some songs that are more powerful that how it arrived. So it’s nice to finish on a high note as these songs dwarf the impressions made by a very lacklustre beginning. If they can take the high notes from this effort and inject it into something new for their next release then they will really be onto something. For now – Fans only.