private music

Deftones’ 10th album is a gift for fans old, new, and certainly finding them in the very distant future. Their peers can’t touch them.

Single My Mind IS A Mountain may open the record in brash fashion, but by lush centre points Souvenir and CXZ, Deftones feel both comfortably themselves and completely unpredictable. [Oct 2025, p.72]

Going two for two in the 2020s so far, Deftones maintain their position as one of the greatest bands of their generation. Throw on a pair of headphones and get lost with Private Music.

On their tenth record, they’re back once again to thwack their guitars really hard while also putting together some of the lushest soundscapes and most rousing choruses you’ll hear all year. The band’s greatest strength is an ability to cover multiple bases while always sounding unmistakably Deftones.

Deftly striking a balance between brutal and graceful, it’s a welcome reminder that Deftones are still more than capable of delivering the goods while showing us something new and vital.

At 10 albums and three decades deep, ‘Private Music’ showcases a band both at the top of their game and with still much more to come.

The band have since long cemented themselves as absolute songwriting savants in the genre and here on album number 10, they successfully build upon that legacy without skipping a beat. Though at times lacking ambition, the finest moments of Private Music are absolute all-timers – poised to throw a wrench into any “top 5 Deftones albums” list for the foreseeable future.

private music doesn’t exactly launch Deftones into any unexplored territories, nor does it reimagine the beloved band in any new light. But, as it turns out, Deftones don’t need to do either to squeeze their sound into 2025. All they really needed to do was refine their process, focus on what works, and come through with some compelling tunes.

At only 42 minutes, its greatest quality comes in the desire to put the album on constant repeat.

The energy is infectious, the pace is relentless and frenetic, and the magic is constant, truly carving out a 'back to form' aura.

Private Music Deftones sounds just like Deftones, but with something off about them: even compared to their most ethereal numbers, Private Music is blown all the way out. Everything echoes or is covered in fuzz. It sounds like the slowed-and-reverbed version of themselves. In a word, a memory.

Private music is a brutal, bold, and intimate outing for a band that has defied expectations and rewritten the rules for decades now. While perhaps not everyone’s taste, private music is nonetheless a triumph and a welcome return for fans.