Diamond Eyes

Deftones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 4, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise Records
• ASIN: B003A7I4XA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (133 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,004 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Diamond Eyes

2. Royal

3. CMND/CTRL

4. You've Seen The Butcher

5. Beauty School

6. Prince

7. Rocket Skates

8. Sextape

9. Risk

10. 976-EVIL

11. This Place Is Death

Editorial Reviews

'Diamond Eyes' works the way good records used to; each song carries you a little further away from your bad day until finally, you've been transported to a place that feels a whole lot better than where you started. There's also a newfound sense of purpose that makes Deftones' sixth album stand out. The band recorded the album after their best friend and bassist Chi Cheng sustained a debilitating brain injury from a car accident in November of 2008. The tangle of Stephen Carpenter's woozy, undulating guitar work and Moreno's soaring then secretive vocal style is the bittersweet dynamic behind each of Deftones' records, including 'Diamond Eyes.' The friction drives the music as much as it does the players, though it doesn't always make life easy for childhood friends Carpenter and Moreno. 'What makes us work?' asks Carpenter. 'Chino will give you the exact opposite answer that I do. That's the way it is with us-we contradict each other constantly but it's also what makes our music what it is-intense and different.'

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another classic Deftones record.... April 18, 2010

By Michael Wood

Format:MP3 Music

As if any of them aren't?

I've seriously listened to this thing (since I downloaded it, shhhh, relax I pre-ordered it too) probably close to 30 times straight. It's just 'off the wall' (as Chino vocalizes in one of the tracks, lol)......

There are a couple of light tracks that take a few spins to click, but once they do, they're just as addicting as the heavy numbers. 'Rocket Skates' and 'Diamond Eyes' are honestly just teasers, even if fantastic ones, to prepare you for the rest of the album.

After more than a couple spins, it was obvious that we can at least partially thank Stephan's love of Meshuggah for what I feel is his most crushing guitar tone to date. Frank's creativity with the samples and keys doesn't let up either and it's really cool what he's come up with on this one. As for Chino (one of my all-time favorite vocalists), he's of course in top form........whether he uses his insane scream or his soothing whisper of beauty.....the range and variation is here.

The album contains at least 2-3 tracks that should be solidified in Deftones setlist from now on..........some of my favorite tracks by the band. This album will take listeners through a wonderful journey of fresh noise, while building anew from Saturday Night Wrist, White Pony, and Around the Fur.

Chi would be proud guys......no worries......and my hat goes off to you for losing a brother (hopefully only temporarily) and continuing on, since we all know by now how hard it was to get through SNW in one piece. What's even more disturbing to me is that there is ANOTHER Deftones record, entitled Eros, just sitting on the shelf prior to Chi's accident. Wow......just wow. If they could pull Diamond Eyes off within a mere 6 months, and Eros already before that, I CAN'T WAIT for what else these 5 guys can do in the studio.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended May 11, 2010

By Matt W.

Format:Audio CD

I have a habit of buying albums and then selling them eventually.

It is this habit that led me to buy pretty much all of the prior Deftones albums, and then sell all of them.

Diamond Eyes makes me feel like a total idiot for doing that, because it is so good it has caused me to re-think my opinion of the Deftones completely.

In the context of this masterpiece of an album, it's now very apparent that the Deftones are one of the greatest modern bands.

Basically, this album took me by complete surprise - I got it because of all the positive reviews I was seeing, but my attitude was "Well, it can't be as good as everyone is saying, right?". But it is. This album is lots of things. It kicks you in the face with aggression at times. It also demonstrates the mellow, melodic influences of the band at other times. At all times, it is clearly the work of a lot of effort by the band to put out the best record they can - it is an emotional record in many ways, likely due in large part to the tragedy of Chi. And it needs to be viewed in the context of Eros, the record they recorded right before this one and then cast aside as not being good enough. Clearly they were determined to put out something great, not merely something they could get some album sales off of and promote on a tour.

What stands out the most for me on this album is how good of a singer Chino is, and how his voice can be so melodic, and yet so harsh, sometimes pretty much at the same time. I think he is one of rock's greatest singers, alongside a diverse array of singers with unique never-will-be-replicated voices such as Robert Plant, Mike Patton, Maynard James Keenan, Morrissey, and others.

There really is no need to go further in this review, because the task at hand for you, the reader, is simple. If you truly liked any Deftones album in the past, you will almost certainly like this one, as long as you appreciate both the aggressive and soft sides of the band - therefore you NEED to buy it, and give it plenty of listens to digest it before deciding if you like it or not. If you only like one of those sides of the band, or if you never liked the band at all, then you are unlikely to like this album, because it really is a culmination of all of the best aspects the Deftones have offered in the past.

Essentially, while adding nothing really new to their music, Diamond Eyes is the perfect crystallization of years of effort by the band to achieve a certain type of sound - a sound no other band comes close to pulling off - the Deftones sound.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Back from hell April 26, 2010

By K. Rowston

Format:MP3 Music

This album is just completely wonderful. The album seems so conceptual, so directly about Chi. Losing their brother and best friend.
Production is faultless. Possibly the best sounding Deftones album yet.

The guitars and drums dominate heavily on this release. Sometimes I was wondering if there was a bass guitar underneath all of it.

The lyrics seem to be very much about Chi's accident, and subsequent coma. I just feel a real sense of anger, and sadness to the music.
Chino has matured vocally on this release, although it doesn't particularly break any new ground musically for the band.

The whopping double punch of "976-EVIL", which leads into "This place is death" is probably the best ending to any Deftones album ever. Super intense.
"This place is death" is probably the highlight for me.
The whole album makes me feel sad when I listen to it. Even at it's heaviest moments there's a kind of helplessness there. If that's how they wanted me to feel when listening to it, then they have succeeded.

This album is their masterpiece.

**edit**
I've decided to add more, the more i listen to this album the more it blows my mind.
I think 976-EVIL" & "This place is death" should actually have been one track. They merge so perfectly, it feels like if it all combined to one song would have been ever more mindblowing.
Lyrically and melodically it just keeps getting at me, in a good way. The more and more i listen to the crazy chord changes and lyrics I just think how far these guys have progressed.
Chino is just phenomenal on this album. There's a real refined quality to what he's actually saying and the way he sings.
Previous Deftones albums have always felt (to me) like a bunch of songs which they really thought were good. This album feels like it was all written at the same time, with a real focus on a theme.
"This place is death" just keeps hooking me in. It's just like a river, it just keeps building, and flowing.
Such an impressive album. props to chi.