Deftones - private music
Metal – Released August 22, 2025 – 11 songs, 42 mins
REID
After a lengthy writing break through the end of summer 2025, Too Sweet Reviews is back to review the tenth studio album from California vets, Deftones. These guys have carved out a wildly impressive career and have become pillars of influence to many bands of this generation. I know what you’re probably thinking… prominent rock band from mid-to-late 90’s, they are definitely up Reid’s alley. Well, it may surprise you to know Around The Fur (1997) is the only album I’ve listened to in full. To take it a step further; most of my Deftones listening has been of singles My Own Summer (Shove It) and Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away). How mainstream of me. Truth is I simply never gravitated to their blend of shoegaze/nu-metal/alt-rock so they remained a mostly unexplored venture. The TSR journey and private music has allowed me to dig deeper into this band once and for all with the glaring caveat of limited context on their past and progression.
The overwhelming sentiment taken from this record is one of cohesion. The chemistry is undeniable from a group of guys that have been creating music together since 1988. The songwriting gives breathing room for their individual talents to shine separately and collectively. private music is meant to be listened as an album as each song rolls over seamlessly to the next, a feature that will never get old. Two standouts include the ninety-second dreamy synth transition from souvenir to the raucous cXz and the fade out of the penultimate ~metal dream to the brilliant closer, departing the body.
Speaking of individual talents, Chino Moreno’s vocal is legendary. His incredible range is the band’s focal point, providing seemingly endless creative flexibility. Bands like System of a Down and Queens of the Stone Age have multiple contributing singers to add variation. Chino does it all on his own. His talents are on display on every song but locked club and cut hands are particularly special as he adds some of that nu-metal rapping to go along with his singing and screaming voice. A subjective issue I hold towards shoegaze is the unwillingness to break the monotony of the usual soft, subdued vocal. It goes without saying Chino bucks this trend. Hopefully those following in his footsteps follow suit. I’d be amiss not to mention Abe Cunningham, who absolutely kills it on drums. His impact on the album cannot be understated.
Every album can benefit from a celebrated single and milk of the madonna is this album’s hot track. It lit the fuse for me, creating excitement for the album and should provide exposure from fringe fans. Heavy, catchy riffs. A defining hook. Abe losing his mind on drums. A memorable bridge. Picks back up before slowly transitioning to the next. It will be in contention for best rock song of the year.
Closing in on forty years together, Deftones continue to create quality music, re-energizing their fan base and inspiring new listeners. private music is a cohesive, thought-provoking effort that rides whichever wave Chino takes them.
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
Favourite Song: milk of the madonna
ROZ
Uncharted territory is what I live for here at Too Sweet Reviews. If I strolled into this review proclaiming that I knew all about this week’s band, I’d be a bold-faced liar. In fact, up until now, I’ve only heard the name ‘Deftones’ in passing or read it on festival posters. Considering this band has either been writing music or performing it for almost four whole decades, it’s hard not to imagine that they’re doing something right. It’s either that, or their ravenous cult of a fanbase obstinately refuses to let go of their darling. Of course, there’s only one way to find out – and that’s with a TSR review. This week, we look at the tenth studio album by Deftones, an album five years separated from their last, simply titled private music.
If I could only take away one thing, it would be that private music proves that age is just a number. Chris Moreno has been hammering out lead vocals, Stephen Carpenter has been shredding the lead guitar and Abe Cunningham has been crushing the drum kit for the past 37 years – honestly, you’d think they were a group of up and comers with the way they perform. I made sure to confirm my suspicions by rifling through some of their more live recent shows, and needless to say, they rock just as hard on that front. This raw electricity spares no time in making itself known across private music as heavy chugs and percussive blasts blow right through the gate on opening track my mind is a mountain. My personal favourite of the bunch, infinite source, encapsulates the album in its entirety as it bellows out squelching guitar riffs over hard hitting drums and a haunting vocal, while also displaying a cohesion undoubtably crafted over the many years of playing together. The following track, souvenir, layers in the melodic talents of keyboardist-turntablist Frank Delgado as he incorporates his less-than-organic touch to the record through synthesis and sampling. In another standout moment, milk of the madonna embarks the listener on an adrenaline-fueled journey through a storm of heavy riffs and piercing screams, while also keeping itself melodically pleasing to the ear. No small feat whatsoever.
Deftones don’t seem to take kindly to being pegged as just another ‘nu metal’ band, and their discography seems to point towards a neverending quest to try an assortment of alternative sounds – from experimental rock, to progressive metal, and even all the way to over shoegaze. While this may be the case, private music’s overall essence does not particularly dive into anything innovative nor does it attempt to go off the beaten path. The result is an album that can be best described as a brash, noisy monolith, where songs bleed from one to the next due to the homogenous nature of its chosen guitar pedals, effects and tones. This lack of diversity adds to the criticality of track selection, and as I finish each full listen I find myself yearning for some tightening up. The song ~metal dream specifically stands out as bonafine filler that could have easily been left on the cutting room floor (the metallic timbre of the snare drum punches me square in the eardrum, and I mean in the absolute worst way). This is simply the consequence of a band staying so firmly inside one lane – there is no room, rhyme nor reason to put out anything more than your cream of the crop. Fortunately, these thoughts are fleeting on an otherwise quality, almost ageless showing from these grizzled rock vets.
In an artform where longevity is seldom guaranteed and near impossible to obtain, Deftones are still belting out high quality music while holding a tenure that spans all the way back to the late 1980’s. To any old heads looking for an electrifying nostalgia trip or young bloods seeking out some guitar-laden madness: this record is tailor made just for you.
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Favourite Song: infinite source
LUNDI
This week’s review feels odd, a bit slimy, and honestly wrong, but I ultimately lost the vote in the decision to put words to the legendary Deftones. See I’ve never listened to an album of theirs front to back in my life. Familiar with their top tracks and understand their importance to music history but I’m drastically ill equipped in band lore to dissect their new music. Their comparison as being metal’s Radiohead, my favourite band, applies perfectly to my mindset. If I came across an author reviewing Radiohead’s Moon Shaped Pool as their first interaction to the band I’d laugh off the thoughts as fairly gimmicky. Even more so if they were negative, and unfortunately that’s where I’ve landed with private music. I suppose everyone has to start somewhere, but I just don’t see greatness in this record. Let’s try and justify that position.
Before delving into my issues, I want to be very clear that I think this is a fine album overall. I’ve been absolutely blasting it at the gym for weeks. Anything in the 7’s is still quite good. I probably don’t even disagree with my colleagues positivity above, and I trust they laid it out well. Deftones are legends for a reason and they are musical masters of nu metal. But rather than rehash positivity on this hard hitting and grand thrashing of guitars I’ll take my opportunity at the bottom of the blog to explain the things that nag me on private music.
Deftones produced private music themselves while using a host of mixing and mastering personnel, and the results just aren’t great. It’s a slog of noise with pretty much every element lost in the guitars. In that way it reminds you of shoegaze, which the band have toyed with in the past, but private music lacks the lush wavey moments that allows the listener to tune into vocals and other instrument arrangements that make shoegaze so appealing. I struggled to understand much of what lead vocalist Chino Moreno recites and if you know my previous work, lyricism is a big box to check. While research finds the writing to be high level I need the lyric genius open to pick up any words which I find tough to get behind overall.
I want to like private music more. Or better said I want to believe it’s great. But when I block everything out and really sit and focus on the music it’s glaring that the unbroken pace never escapes its own small foundation. It’s so consistent it becomes uninteresting. The one speed mantra may work for some but in listening to a vast amount of music for TSR, lack of variety becomes a major sticking point. Private music’s lack of ebbs and flows not only delivers a single flavour but it really highlights a track layout issue, an artistry that can elevate good to great. On private music there just are no detours, and the thought that you could shuffle this album in any order and not change the outcome is off putting at the very least.
Even the songs I think stand out like infinite source, souvenir, and milk of the madonna I catch myself thinking the best part of this whole effort is that nu metal can get made to commercial success in 2025 over actually believing this music has any high profile elements. Whether it’s Tool or NIN from the progressive metal side or Limp Bizkit and Korn from nu-metal, everything on private music just feels vaguely familiar. Although over time Deftones have risen to the top amongst their peers there’s a ton of fan service going on here which one again makes it tough for greatness to be achieved. Ultimately, to borrow from the movie industry, private music and Deftones are Leonardo Decaprio and The Revenant. Passed by and overlooked for far too long, the music industry is now making up for lost time.
Perhaps the overwhelming and inescapable acclaim for private music has jaded this analysis but nothing about Deftones seventh album strikes me as special or revolutionary. It’s still quite good, but doesn’t reach any level of greatness. The band deserve their flowers and more, but for their incredible career, not a fan service fuelled record.
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
Favourite Song: milk of the madonna