Private Music (album)
2025 studio album by Deftones
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Private Music (stylized in all lowercase) is the tenth studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones. It was released on August 22, 2025, through Reprise and Warner Records.[4][5] It was preceded by two singles, "My Mind Is a Mountain" and "Milk of the Madonna". The album was produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who previously worked on the band's albums Diamond Eyes (2010) and Koi No Yokan (2012).[1] It is the band's first album to feature the group's touring bassist, Fred Sablan.[6] The band's first studio album since 2020's Ohms, Private Music marks the longest release gap between two Deftones albums. The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
- Amaraycan (North Hollywood)
- Dead Aunt Thelma's (Portland)
- EastWest (Hollywood)
- Rock Falcon (Nashville)
- Sienna (Nashville)
| Private Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover featuring a white corn snake. Select editions feature a purple background, and the cassette release features a blue background. | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 22, 2025[1] | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Alternative metal[2] | |||
| Length | 42:22 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
| |||
| Deftones chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Private Music | ||||
| ||||
Background
Private Music marks the first Deftones album since Diamond Eyes (2010) not to feature bassist Sergio Vega, who left the band in 2021. Fred Sablan, who became the group's touring bassist a year later, cowrote and played on the album.[7] Moreno performed more of the guitar parts on Private Music than previous albums due to Stephen Carpenter’s health problems which were later diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.[8] Private Music has been described as alternative metal[2] and shoegaze.[9]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.4/10[10] |
| Metacritic | 90/100[11] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Clash | 9/10[13] |
| DIY | [14] |
| Kerrang! | 5/5[15] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 9/10[16] |
| Louder Than War |  [17] |
| Metal Hammer | [18] |
| NME | [19] |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10[20] |
| Sputnikmusic | 4.4/5[21] |
Private Music was met with widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 90, based on fourteen reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[11] Additionally, DIY said that track "Metal Dream" "embodies the ebb and flow most, taking the frontman back to the verge of nu metal rap with remarkable precision, far from cliche or pastiche, and paired with an ever-mesmerising chorus." NME's Andrew Trendell awarded Private Music a full five stars and concluded: "Very much a whole journey through a full-bodied and expansive fever dream, but this time somehow spiritual, intimate and direct, 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."[22]
Accolades
| Year | Organization | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Album | Nominated | [23] |
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Chino Moreno; all music is composed by Abe Cunningham, Moreno, Frank Delgado, Fred Sablan and Stephen Carpenter.[24][25]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Mind Is a Mountain" | 2:50 |
| 2. | "Locked Club" | 2:52 |
| 3. | "Ecdysis" | 3:28 |
| 4. | "Infinite Source" | 3:32 |
| 5. | "Souvenir" | 6:10 |
| 6. | "CXZ" | 3:12 |
| 7. | "I Think About You All the Time" | 4:08 |
| 8. | "Milk of the Madonna" | 4:08 |
| 9. | "Cut Hands" | 3:01 |
| 10. | "Metal Dream" | 3:02 |
| 11. | "Departing the Body" | 5:59 |
| Total length: | 42:22 | |
Notes
- All songs are stylized in all lowercase, except track 6, which is stylized as "cXz".
- "Metal Dream" is stylized as "~metal dream".
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[24] and Tidal.[25]
Deftones
- Chino Moreno – vocals, guitar
- Stephen Carpenter – guitar
- Frank Delgado – keyboards, samples
- Abe Cunningham – drums
Additional contributors
- Fred Sablan – bass
- Deftones – production
- Nick Raskulinecz – production, engineering, recording
- Rich Costey – mixing
- Howie Weinberg – mastering
- Will Borza – mastering
- Nathan Yarborough – engineering
- Clemente Ruiz – additional engineering on "Ecdysis"
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|