If “Diamond Eyes” has any defining trait, it would have to be clarity. It’s no secret that over the past few albums the Deftones‘ creative process has gone hand in hand with inner turmoil. But the thing about tragedy is that it often brings people together and the November 2008 car accident which has left Deftones bassist Chi Cheng sidelined since appears to have done just that.
For once the band have the outlook to finally see beyond the needs of their individual ego’s and curtail their increasingly reckless experimentation. No longer do the songs feel marred by inner tension and the butting of heads. Gone is the convoluted filler and hokey spoken word interludes and in their place is a renewed vigor and beautiful coalescence of seductive melancholy and raw nerve aggression.
To get to this place the band have certainly paid a heavy toll. One clearly influenced by their decision to shelve, “Eros“, the album they were well into writing and recording with Cheng prior to his accident. But if such a dark cloud is to have a silver lining, then “Diamond Eyes” is it.
Recorded with Cheng‘s previous fill-in Segio Vega handling the bass duties; the group willfully revisit elements of their past and present and seemingly welcome in Vega with open arms while they’re at it. For despite being a proverbial outsider, Vega‘s presence is felt throughout the album; especially on the track “Beauty School“, which is carried by a looming, moody bassline that harkens back to his Quicksand days.
Once again it all comes back to clarity. The band are able to see what worked in their past and apply it to the now with grace and warmth. Take for instance the smoldering riff that permeates the track “You’ve Seen The Butcher“. It’s not hard to see it as a mature, artful upgrade on the heavy-handed approach they took earlier in their career on tracks like “Bored“.
But “Diamond Eyes” is not just a chance to plunder the back catalogue and grasp at ideas that worked prior. The band take ample chances on this outing and receive significant payoffs as a result. Whether it be the distillation of the once jarring electronic ambiance into breathing subtle backdrops or the sullen vulnerability of the albums many slower moments.
For an outfit whose direction recently seemed so clouded to be this united in vision and purpose is a revelatory experience. Nearly each song lovingly offers a dreamy, yearnful experience helplessly intertwined with darker, more gripping emotions. It’s a delicate give and take and one that the Deftones are closer than ever to mastering.
Despite being this far into their career and having experienced the successes and heartbreaks that came with it, the Deftones have managed to reignite not only the hunger to express themselves, but the passion necessary to keep it refreshing. Sure “Diamond Eyes” has its fair share of surface cracks and chipped edges. But for the first time in a long time for the band, it sounds like it comes from the purest of intentions.
