It’s another Monday for you all! And me too. Hope y’all been hooked on all those August edition Doom Charts albums? Spinning the shit out of them! A busy week in the books and next up, is probably another one. But still, we managed to do three reviews and we might just have about three ready for this week as well. Did you read the ones about Deftones, Vvarp and Warcoe? If not, you still have that chance! It might just get you all psyched up for the albums already out and the one that is only a few weeks away. They’re all damn crackin! Just like the Top 10 above… Go check’m out… Check’m all out!
Deftones – Private Music Reprise / Warner – 2025 Metal Rated: ****
In the foul year of our lord 2011, I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Moreno and the then still part of the team Mr. Vega. And sure, we talked about music and the Deftones Covers album that was released for Record Store Day that year. But we talked more about their favorite spaghetti dish, the might of big company, pulling pranks, the sublime qualities of water and what the two of them would do if they would suddenly turn into a lobster the next time they did an ollie on a skateboard. All that was here nor there back then and even more so now, cause the band is back with a new album and perhaps it has absolutely no place on Stoner HiVe. For the band is no heavy underground band at all or a starting heavy band or anything to do with stonerrock of psych or doom. Or… Etc. Why do we want to mention Private Music in that case you say? Well…
Because it’s pretty darn freaking good! And sometimes, it doesn’t have to make sense. In some ways the new album grabs back to their earlier sound of metal, shoegaze and hardcore. And in other ways it screams about post metal and an early two thousands nu metal touch. All turned up and into something all leveling, roaring and thundering. With vocals that often scratch that emotional itch, although some do sound smoothed out or edited. But then there’s one of those screams and howls, or another wistful refrain to jump on and you forget about that and scream along. There’s just so much good and heavy to enjoy, to punch along with. Shadowboxing your self into a state of admiration for almost every track on Private Music. And then there’s the guitar work, the slicing riffs, the electrifying leads, the serrated tones. Deftones’s Private Music is their tenth album in their thirty-seven years of existence and is without any doubt in my mind one of their absolute best. Which I definitely had not expected. Did you?
We can always count on Deftones to deliver records of a certain quality. Even the lesser ones still contain some fine metal pieces. And ever since Around The Fur (1997) there has always been a melodic undertone which is even more overt on albums such as Deftones and Saturday Night Wrist. Team Sleep the other band of vocalist Moreno had even more richly colored soundscapes. This airy and light side would be even more present on the new album so they promised. But this is only partially so for the main theme on the album are still the iron hard riffs. Songs like Leathers and Rosemary feature somewhat experimental intros but apart from a few of those moments the album mostly just continues on where Diamond Eyes (2010 left off. This might seem like a disappointment; but it is one that fades after listening to Koi No Yokan a few times for the end result is impressive once again. Catchy melodies, tight drum and basswork, exulted guitars and a Moreno that on occasion still sounds like a beast in a slaughtering house; all the ingredients of Deftones we all hold so dear…
