Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Deftones should no longer exist; the rap-metal genre they helped define went out of fashion more than a decade ago, bassist Chi Cheng remains in a semi-comatose state following a 2008 car accident and after spending some two years and many millions of dollars recording their Eros album the band decided to toss the whole thing in the bin a start again. But somehow the band have rarely sounded as alive as they do on Diamond Eyes.

The album starts with title track Diamond Eyes; huge riffs, epic chorus and soaring vocals the result is massive. Royal and CMND/CTRL manage to deliver all the spite of early era Deftones but with the maturity of a band beyond its 20th year.

Deftones have reined in the experimental influences that derailed parts of their post White Pony work. Pleasingly this has not been done at the expense of the dense sounds of their 2006 album Saturday Night Wrist. You've Seen the Butcher is a great example of what Deftones do today; the huge metal riff is accompanied by crashing percussion and reverb soaked vocals the whole thing swamped in ambient effects.

Deftones have never hidden their love of new wave and British romantic music. These influences can be found in the Cure-esk baseline of Beauty School and Morrissey like vocals of This Place is Death. More than just a Smiths revivalist front man Chino Moreno shows great vocal range across the album after tearing his throat out on CMND/CTRL and Rocket Skates his voice is stadium big on Risk before showing his melodic side on Sextape and 976-EVIL.

Closer This Place is Death is a triumph itself and a more than fitting end to this album of decadent heavy music.