The acclaimed alternative/experimental metal band Deftones is back at it with their tenth studio album private music. Released on August 22nd 2025, previous fans and a large new generation of fans have together led this dynamic album to be No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and top many other charts including “Top Rock and Alternative Albums”, “Top Hard Rock Albums”, and many more. Five years since their last studio album Ohms, the band has been resurging and attracting a bigger fan base than ever before.
From Chino Moreno’s raw yet ethereal vocals as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, to Stephen Carpenter’s unforgettable riffs and melodies on lead guitar, Fred Sablan’s prominent and atmospheric grooves on bass, Abe Cunningham’s intricate and subtle fills on drums, and Frank Delgado’s eerie layering to the bands’ sound on keyboards, Deftones is prominently known around the world as the band that characterizes the sound “when beauty meets brutality”, a sound they have nurtured and advanced over the years. It is safe to say that the phrase proved itself to be true on their new album, private music. From the hard-hitting first track “my mind is a mountain”, to the haunting and transforming final track “departing the body”, this album offers a variety of sounds and atmospheres ranging from dreamy and thoughtful shoegaze ballads to intense and hard-hitting metal.
(From left to right: Abe Cunningham, Fred Sablan, Chino Moreno, Frank Delgado, Stephen Carpenter
The album cover depicts an eye-catching snake against a bright neon green background. The snake represents rebirth and transformation through the shedding of its skin. The tracks on the album are all titled in lowercase, which can be their way of conveying a certain mysterious, intimate tone with regards to the album. Throughout the rest of this article, we will explore and expand on all 11 songs on the album.
Tracklist:
- my mind is a mountain
- locked club
- ecdysis
- infinite source
- souvenir
- cXz
- i think about you all of the time
- milk of the madonna
- cut hands
- ~metal dream~
- departing the body
Track 1: “my mind is a mountain” is definitely a strong opening track for the album. The guitar riffs start off heavy yet still feel melodic.The vocals start off slow and sincere, but quickly switch to more aggressive and powerful vocals, the grit in Chino’s vocals really showing through. The balance between the melody and the desperate rough vocals immediately pulled me in. The drums create a more intricate, complex sound that flows well with the guitar riffs. The song itself depicts themes of struggling and enduring painful times, with the standout lines, “The storm remains / And my hearts entrenched / New fates explore me now”. These lyrics feel like it’s expressing the feeling of your mind being overwhelmed or going through some adversity. Overall, this song is a highlight of the album and explores Deftones range of styles. It’s definitely a satisfying listen and is a personal favorite from the album.
Track 2: “locked club” immediately hits you with intense downtuned guitar riffs and gravelly vocals. The lyrics are expressed with rugged, angry emotions and is undeniably a song with a deep meaning behind it. From the loud verses that seem to tell a story of trying to blend into the crowd, no matter the consequences to the choruses that repeatedly express themes of exclusion, isolation, and trying to find your identity among the chaos, this song is extremely powerful. This resonates well with me, because in this day and age, many teens feel like society is pushing them to fit in with others or otherwise be left behind, which I feel like is the main message this song is trying to communicate to the listeners, like when they say, “Join our parade or be left out” and “So in love with the calm and the chaos”. The choruses in the song feel grounding and ethereal while still keeping the intensity behind the lyrics. This song is forceful, yet somber in its own way–resulting in a strong connection with the listeners.
Track 3: “ecdysis”, which is defined as the process of shedding the old skin or casting off the outer cuticle for reptiles, insects, and other arthropods, starts off with a strong bassline and quickly pulls you into an emotional, reflective trance. The chorus feels ethereal and addictive, leaving you craving for more. This song leans more towards the shoegaze feel Deftones has successfully portrayed many times before. The lyrics are based on nature and the changes and disasters that come along with it. The song feels like it’s trying to communicate the idea of attempting to push through struggles and hard times because they will eventually lead to personal growth and rebirth, relating back to the shedding of the snakes skin on the album cover. Moreno expresses themes of the hardship and adversity felt before overcoming internal struggles through crying out, “Can we sit here, silent / Just hoping to survive here?” This song personally feels like the most introspective one on the album, and by the end of it, you feel exhilarated and astonished by the journey this song takes you through.
Track 4: “infinite source” has a smooth start with an almost unnoticeable transition between track 3 and track 4, an element that helps pull the album together. This song, unlike some of the others on the album, has a slower, more delicate start. The guitar riffs combined with the vocals feel alluring, yet desperate, like the vocalist is expressing his distress and anguish. The switch between the lighter and heavier guitar rhythms add to the dramatic effect. The chorus feels like you’re saying goodbye, whether that means to a loved one or to a certain mentality, and opening up your mind to new opportunities and journeys. The final lines, “Last time adorning the stage / This love we chased was found / Last ride we’ll ever take / Our final wave and bow” feel like closing an important chapter of your life, and learning to heal and move on.
Track 5: “souvenir” starts off with a classic coarse texture but quickly fades back to their more ethereal style. The verses feel softer and dreamy while the choruses feel harsher and more desperate. The song itself feels like venturing into the unknown and leaving the familiar behind when it comes to exploring relationships and the vulnerability that comes along with them. The theme of exploring something new and intriguing is threaded through Moreno’s vocals when he chants, “I’m hovering in space / Embracing the lights, discovering something else” and “I’ll keep loving you from space / Embracing our time of discovery, discovering”. The song has a powerful false ending that makes you believe the song is done when there is actually around a minute and a half left of a soothing, delicate outro that shows off Frank Delgado’s somber synths.
Track 6: “cXz” slowly transitions from the lingering synths in “souvenir” to a darker more dreamlike feel while still using the classic rough sounds and Chino Moreno’s haunting vocals. The song expresses a surreal and hallucinatory feeling, or a sense of extreme confusion, and Chino expresses these through howling the lyrics, “It’s starting to give / Past, present tense / Our memories split / One is up, one is down / One is lost, one is there” and “Recurring events now reappear / Time has started to tear”. These lyrics really zone in on the disoriented, spaced out emotions the song gives off. Abe Cunningham’s drums in this song really add to the layering and the rhythm, backing up the vocals and blending into the overall flow of the song.
Track 7: “i think about you all the time” starts off slower, with Stephen Carpenter’s guitar riffs feeling more shoegaze-esque and providing a dreamy and layered atmosphere. The song gives off more of a romantic and vulnerable feel with the choruses dipping into the heavier instrumental feel just slightly and the vocals remaining fragile and deliberate. Chino calls out, “All of my life / You’ve been the same / All of our days / And we’ll never change” and “We sail / Inside of your warship / You sing / Your refrain and I’m out of my mind” making it feel like the security, stability and peace felt with a person. This song represents comfort and a strong connection between certain people and is up for personal interpretation. While the lyrics could be interpreted as the peace felt in a romantic relationship, many fans including myself theorize that the song is meant to be a tribute to the bands’ former bassist, Chi Cheng, who sadly passed away in 2013 due to a car crash. Chi was on some of Deftones’s biggest albums including Around the Fur and White Pony and his contributions to the band’s textured sound won’t be forgotten.
Track 8: “milk of the madonna” hits you with the classic powerful elements Deftones fans know and love. This track gives off feelings of distress and aggression while also keeping those same hazy surreal elements that is a noticeable pattern throughout the album. Many lyrics in this song can be traced back to religious and biblical quotes that explore topics like forgiveness, including the chorus, where Chino belts, “Holy ghost / I’m on fire / Holy spirit / I’m on fire”. This could relate back to the power of religious experiences. Another notable lyric from this song is, “Feel the waves / Crash against the concrete below / A new wine / Intoxicates you slowly out of time” which gives off the feeling of intense emotions, almost with an overwhelming purpose. Overall, this song is definitely one that will leave an imprint in your mind.
Track 9: “cut hands” shows from the intense intro and gritty verses to the meaningful yet dark choruses that this song has a lot of passion and anger poured into it. The searing guitar riffs and vocals only add to the intensity of the song. From the lyrics, this song can be interpreted as feeling a sense of frustration or detachment from another person’s struggles, or the decision to no longer give someone your attention, like when Moreno expresses, “Eyelids getting heavy / Not pulling me out of my grace / You feel no longer steady / But not wanting to give up”. These themes symbolize the resistance against letting another person’s struggles seep into your own. The end of the song feels more like giving up hope on this person, or learning to let go.
Track 10: “~metal dream” shifts back to the more dreamy moody setting and feels romantic while still maintaining the familiar edge. It feels like having faith in someone while still having to face the harsh world around you. Similar to “ecdysis”, this song has that introspective feel. The feelings portrayed in this song through the ethereal vocals and guitar riffs feel almost like a blur of emotions and attachment to the promise of forever. The lyrics, “In your dreams, all we see / Are the gold drenched days laid ahead” and “Together / Together / Forever” relate back to these topics and overall the feeling of security and promise. This song takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, one that’s full of love and peace while also taking you through the unavoidable bumps along the way.
Track 11: “departing the body” is a fitting final track for the album, as it feels like the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one. This could be related back to the album cover, but now the snake’s skin is finally fully shed, and the rebirth or transformation is complete. The deep dark vocals in the beginning of the song add to the eerie feel of the song. The lyrics describe what seems to be a journey that is more spiritual than physical. The instruments in this song fit perfectly with the tone–addicting and ethereal. Near the beginning of the song, you hear Chino mutter, “There’s a room / We hang in space / It’s clear, cold” and near the end of the song, you hear, “In a room / We end in / It’s clean”. The parallels between the lyrics at the beginning and the end of the song seal the idea of a journey coming to an end or to its climax. The calmness in the very opening before diving into the chorus and returning back to that feeling for the closing of this song ties it all together, bringing the album to a close.
Overall, private music feels like an experience that takes the listener through so many emotional states and mindsets. Although all of the songs convey their own messages, the songs still express or characterize specific feelings or sounds, so even though there may be some repetition with the descriptions of the songs, they are definitely still all unique. Deftones undoubtedly didn’t disappoint fans with their tenth studio album. Throughout their career, they’ve explored many genres including alternative metal, art rock, shoegaze, nu-metal, dream pop, and much more; with this album feeling like a blend of all of these genres. It also demonstrates the experiences they have gone through throughout their career. The name of the album itself connects the audience to the artists, as it makes the listeners feel like these songs are intimate and exclusive. Chino Moreno said himself in Revolver magazine that the album was literally named after a folder on his desktop where he collected the ideas that the band was working on; drawing inspiration from Tangerine Dream’s record, The Private Music of Tangerine Dream. Even through the recent live performances of some tracks off this album, the band still has the energy and passion they did when they first started out. With their first studio album Adrenaline that came out in 1995, they started a legacy, and it’s safe to say that they have not lost their touch. This album is a layered masterpiece from front to back. If you haven’t already, go listen to private music on any streaming platform and immerse yourself in the journey.
Links:
https://genius.com/albums/Deftones/Private-music
Images: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Music_%28album%29
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Ghvu1VvMGScGpOUJBAHNH
https://fr.pinterest.com/pin/775604367072111898/
https://loudwire.com/deftones-gauze-live-debut/
