Deftones have always revelled in moments of transcendence, and on ‘
Private Music’, that feeling lingers, stretches and ultimately envelops.
From the snake in the artwork and the track titled ‘
ecdysis’ (the term for shedding skin), you might expect a band in transition. But instead of reinventing themselves, the Sacramento legends double down on what they do best: blistering intensity threaded with pockets of ethereal beauty and a continued sonic odyssey.
The album blooms from a familiar starting point with producer Nick Raskulinecz’s fingerprints from ‘
Koi No Yokan’ and ‘
Diamond Eyes’ visible. Around ‘ecdysis’, though, their sound begins to unfurl. ‘
Infinite Source’ is bright and glossy while ‘
i think about you all the time’ captures the album’s dreamlike pull; reflective, existential and unmoored.
For longtime fans, ‘
cut hands’ comes with the swagger that reaches all the way back to the band’s roots. It’s a reminder of how much ground they’ve covered in the last 30 years and how much they still command.
