Deftones, the late 90s to early 2000s hit band, has pursued the prominence of hard rock culture with their newest studio album, “private music,” purposefully stylized in all lowercase. Deftones has been the gateway for many listeners into the threshold of heavy metal. With their unique fusion of psychedelic and atmospheric instrumentals, Deftones has helped ease the general public into the intensity of rock.. The band was originally started in 1988 in Sacramento, California by three teenage boys practicing in their family’s garage. Initially, the boys were not conventionally successful due to the underground nature of alternative music. It was not until the release of their second studio album titled “Around the Fur” in the late ‘90s that the band became nationally recognized, earning both gold and platinum awards. Today, the band continues to release music even as their members have fluctuated throughout the years. Their most recent album, “private music,” includes 11 songs, amassing 42 minutes worth of music. The album explores themes like the struggle for human intimacy and the exploration of one’s identity. The harsh subjects blended with the out-of- body instrumentals all come together to make a tasteful and enjoyable listening experience.
The first and most popular track, “my mind is a mountain,” renders itself a Deftones classic with 2 minutes and 51 seconds of loud drums and screaming vocals. The blaring, even overpowering instruments add to the lyricism of the song. The line “why do we bathe in this psyche?” brings up the issue of feeling trapped in one’s own mind, drowning from the inside. The clash of instruments and screaming creates an auditory experience that provides a further understanding of what the mind of Chino Moreno (lead singer and lyricist of Deftones) sounds like. The deep meaning of the song would easily go over the listeners’ head if they did not meticulously process the lyrics due to the primary focus of the song being on the beat. Though, the song encompasses the Deftones- specific aspects that originally brought them to fame. The fierce guitar rifts and the aggressive bass would please any long-term Deftones fan.
The track “i think about you all the time” differs from almost every other song on the album. The song feels raw and vulnerable rather than rage- filled and strident. The album is titled “private music,” giving the idea that the album expresses the band’s truest and most natural feelings that would otherwise be kept private. The true humanistic desires sung about in this song would easily be described as something that would want to be kept more or less exclusive. This song best compares to another very popular song of theirs: “Cherry Waves.” Both tracks use the same toned-down and hypnotic elements. There is no yelling, no screaming. The song almost drifts out of the rock genre and into the larger umbrella of alternative. The lyric, “Riding your wave, wrapped in your calm,” expresses the devotion and emotional connection that Moreno feels (most likely for his wife). Softer songs can be appreciated on an album like this to act as an intermission.
The diversity of Moreno and the rest of the band is especially highlighted in this song compared to the rest of the album.
The third track is titled “ecdysis.” Ecdysis is the process that reptiles undergo when shedding skin, establishing the song as a metaphor for self development and “shedding one’s skin” to grow into a new identity. This song title also corresponds with the album cover, a snake, making each detail of the album seem more intentional. The song fits in nicely with the rest of the album with similar sounds and an equally deep message. “A new phase arrives, a symbol of our plague,” comprises the meaning of the song into a few simple words. The “plague” insinuates a societal force requiring a radical metamorphosis for the singer’s life, whether it be willing or not.
This song is a smorgasbord of beautifully written lyrics and impressive vocals, being one of the most well liked songs amongst the Deftones fan base. Despite having been around for nearly four decades, Deftones’s discography has consistently retained approval. “private music” debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. There are very few other bands that have been successful at keeping their fan base through the everchanging decades and fads in music. Moreno was 52 at the time of “private music’s” release, yet still has the essence of the “angsty teenager” foundation that the band was built on. Each song on the album was strategically recorded and the effort shines through. It is easy for a band to release mediocre music once they have already reached A-lister status, but Deftones has not taken the easy way out. The members continue to create and release art that is meaningful to them.“private music” is another wonderful album that the band can add under their impressive belt of successful discography.
