Holding out for the full album, but following the crumb trail eagerly

The 2025 single, “my mind is a mountain,” released by Deftones on July 10, was overall underwhelming. The single is a predecessor of their upcoming album, “private music,” which is set to be released Aug. 22. 

Not only this, but on Aug. 7, Deftones randomly released “milk of the madonna” overnight, another song that will appear on the album.  

The track list for “private music” has 11 songs, including the two singles. 

Prior to this year, Deftones’ last release was “Ohms” in 2020, featuring hits such as “Ceremony” and “The Spell of Mathematics.” These songs, and the others on the album, had a very classic Deftones feel, fitting right in with their discography. 

Beyond this, some of Deftones’ more popular albums include “Around the Fur” (1997), “White Pony” (2000), “Deftones” (2003) and “Diamond Eyes” (2010). In total, Deftones has released nine total albums since 1995, excluding their unofficial demo “(Like) Linus,” which was released as promotional material before the debut album “Adrenaline” in 1995. This will make “private music” the 10^th release over a span of 30 years.  

Going back to “my mind is a mountain,” many are comparing it to the 2021 album “Koi No Yokan,” and it’s easy to hear the similarities. Heavy guitar riffs, louder vocals. It is especially similar to “Swerve City” musically. The intros are eerily analogous, even to an untrained ear.  

However, “my mind is a mountain” is just … fine. On its own, it is not a standout song, even for a single. It feels more like a filler between knockout songs, an interlude.  

This being said, many listeners enjoy it a lot. It’s not a bad song. It has good lyrics and great vocals. The music is good. But does it really feel like Deftones?  

It does. It’s just not a standout. Listening to the song on repeat certainly helps foster an interest for the song, but this is an unlikely occurrence for average listeners. Upon first listen, it’s easy to miss niche details and feel underwhelmed.  

The sound is still undeniably Deftones, just maybe not in the way most listeners would think. It has a sound more similar to their less popular songs, and that may be why some don’t find it quite as satisfactory to listen to.  

It can be appreciated that the band did not change or modernize this song for a new generation of listeners. The same can be said for “milk of the madonna;” however, “milk of the madonna” is a much more gratifying listening experience and sounds much more similar to a classic, popular Deftones song. 

There is not as much social media chatter surrounding “milk of the madonna,” which is to be expected, as it was an overnight release. What is being said, though, is that this song bears a resemblance to “Mein,” a song from the 2006 album “Saturday Night Wrist,” again calling to the intro in the same way “my mind is a mountain” calls to “Swerve.”  

Interestingly enough, “Mein” was the second single released as a tease to “Saturday Night Wrist,” just as “milk of the madonna” is the second single release for “private music.” Whether this was intentional is unclear. 

As stated previously, “milk of the madonna” is a much more emotionally gratifying listen, in an almost indescribable way. The lyricism and raw emotional vocals from Chino Moreno evoke similar feelings as songs such as “Change” or “Sextape,” both very popular songs from previous albums. 

Maybe this feeling comes from the religious allusions in the lyrics; maybe it’s the mixed vocals or the less aggressive sound.  

This leads to the question: will the whole album have callbacks to previous songs? It’s hard to know for sure, but listeners eagerly await the drop on Aug. 22. Mixed feelings toward the singles may foreshadow mixed feelings toward the album, or it could just mean that the band is saving the best for last.  

A full “private music” album review will be published in the next edition of The Tropolitan.