Diamond Eyes
Written and recorded during a dark chapter for Deftones, when early-era bassist Chi Cheng was in a coma due to injuries sustained in a car accident, Diamond Eyes turned into an unlikely mid-career peak. Joined by new bassist Sergio Vega, the band committed fully to both seismic aggression and soaring melody, yielding ready-made anthems such as the title track and “CMND/CTRL.” Other highlights include “Sextape,” a lovely art-pop ballad that captured the band at its most aqueous and dreamlike, and “Prince,” which ascends from skeletal funk to pure, grinding catharsis — featuring raw-throated screams from frontman Chino Moreno — and vertigo-inducing riffage. Taken as a whole, Diamond Eyes is a masterpiece of state-of-the-art heaviness from one of the most enduring and expansive metal-adjacent bands of the ‘90s, 2000s and beyond.