Diamond Eyes

Diamond Eyes is full of layers and dimensions, making it an auditory treat that listeners will want to continue to indulge themselves in. This is an album you can blast from my car stereo and then later dissect through headphones.

These 11 tracks flow fantastically, sounding like products of a focused period of writing and recording, completed over a relatively short space of time.

Diamond Eyes is more concise than 2006's "Saturday Night Wrist" because it streamlines (or disposes) much of that album's sonic excesses while still delivering taut songs. [June 2010, p.101]

Above all, it’s a mature album: Deftones skirted the obvious response to their tragedy, realizing that the left turn is a more rewarding journey.

In essence this is their most fluid recording, unbroken by exploratory concerns.

It’s the stellar-sounding closer ‘This Place Is Death’ that perfectly demonstrates the striking yet violent contrasts that make album number six a masterpiece.

A brilliant, invigorating reintroduction.

As armistice appears to exist on this sixth album; the more ethereal elements of the band's sound have been reined in, but so has much of the agresion, resulting in a smoother ride that allows Moreno's melodic ear to shine and seduce. [Jun 2010, p.123]

Diamond Eyes does not disappoint when it comes to strong, powerful and unexpected material.

Diamond Eyes incorporates all the same basic tropes as every Deftones record before and almost certainly after it, but here, for the first time in ages, they’re crafted and performed with more than mere hints of the assuredness and pummeling hooks of their one (yes) great record—a full-course meal to the last decade’s worth of scattered crumbs.

Granted, freedom to roam does come standard with Deftones, as do the many chunky and graceful tendencies of Diamond Eyes. What matters is that the band can still find different—and fun—ways to combine and contrast it all.

The first third feels like primal-scream therapy, with frontman Chino Moreno howling himself even rawer than usual. More original are the quieter numbers that show off Deftones' subtleties.

The set is full of the Deftones' usual energy and showcases singer Chino Moreno's knack for alternating between screams and sweet vocal delivery over heavy, complex guitar work.

When Diamond Eyes isn't trying quite so hard to be a great record, though, it ends up being a pretty good one.

Blissed-out and surreal, featuring queasy slides between loud and soft, it's a work of patient design and bloody fantasy. Brutal beauty abounds, but for the first time, Deftones are imitating rather than exploring.