10 Most Essential Deftones Songs

In 2008, during the recording of what was to be the band’s sixth album - tentatively titled Eros - bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a serious car accident which left him in a coma. With the band devastated, the album was shelved, partly because of Cheng’s life-threatening condition, but also as the band felt it no longer best encompassed and represented who the band were “currently as people and as musicians.”

Regarded as a short term replacement, former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega stepped in, but as it became clear Cheng would not make a quick recovery, Deftones started work on a new sixth album. The result was Diamond Eyes, released in May of 2010, with Vega playing bass throughout. Despite a five year fight to regain his health, sadly Chi Cheng would die in April of 2013, but the record he never got to perform on is a fitting tribute.

Its title track opens the album in stunning form. Brutally heavy verses quickly give way to an equally heavy yet achingly beautiful chorus, and its ending is perhaps the heaviest thing Deftones have ever recorded.

It also shows off Chino Moreno’s incredible vocal range, something which often doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Of vocalists working in a similar genre, perhaps only Mike Patton of Faith No More has a better range than Moreno.