The Deftones have released their sixth studio album since their forming in 1988 entitled Diamond Eyes on May 4th.  With four years of input, they have brought together since 2006's Saturday Night Wrist - this was due to the fact they their bassist, Chi Cheng, fell into a coma after a serious car accident.  I must say, I am not impressed with this album.  I have listened to the album in order and out of sequence and it is not up to par (minus a song or two). 

With that said, I am not typically a metal fan.  The album grates on my nerves as it grinds the same riffs over and again.  You metal-heads may feel differently.  Don't get me wrong, I had been a big fan of theirs since about 1998 since Around the Fur.  Chino Moreno's vocal style is fairly original with how he only sings minor keys (and flat notes) - and i do like originality.  I was just anticipating a progression stemming from Saturday Night Wrist rather than revisiting their earlier sound.    This could be attributed to the fact that the producer is Nick Raskulinecz (Velvet Revolver, Foo Fighters, Stone Sour, Marilyn Manson) who has achieved some success with popular "rock" bands.  But then again, I could be the one changing tastes and they could be doing everything like they should.

Ironically, the only track I really enjoyed is titled "Sextape."  It is more along the lines of Chino Moreno's sideband Team Sleep but not as ambient or electronic.  I did see that "You've Seen the Butcher" and "Beauty School" were a little different  and tolerable.  However, the rest of the songs seem like an attempt for them to gain more young'n metalheads.  It reminds me of how the Smashing Pumpkins did this with Zeitgeist a few years ago.  When it comes down to it, they did it better years before and it makes no sense to redo it.  Diamond Eyes lacks songs like "Knife Party," "Digital Bath," "Riviere," "Bloody Cape," "My Own Summer," and "Be Quiet and Drive." 

Overall, the album does not offer any sort of progression, value, or variation to their work.  The song variation within the album is something that I really miss.  One could say it is just "another loud Deftones album" like Adrenaline.  But hey, if you need some screaming and loud music to work out to, this could work... I give it a 1.9 out of 5.

The first single is "Rocket Skates."  I am unsure why they chose this.  All I can say is... blah.  Here is the video though; Chino is back to a good weight at least:

Apparently on the special edition they released a remix by M83 (which is a good group by the way) that i consider a lot better than the original version.  At first it sounds a lot like Does It Offend You, Yeah!  I still need to get my hands on the three tracks they released with it (Cardigans cover and etc.)  Check it out!

Next, they released "Diamond Eyes" in March:

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The Deftones is:

Chino Moreno
Stephen Carpenter
Chi Cheng
Frank Delgado
Abe Cunningham
Sergio Vega

Diamond Eyes Tracklist:

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"