Deftones -- 2010 New Album Preview

The past couple of years may have been abnormally rocky for the Deftones, but the alt-metal group from Sacramento seems to have come together over the course of a year, and now find themselves less than two months away from the release of a new Deftones 2010 album. The Deftones' sixth studio album, 'Diamond Eyes,' is scheduled to drop on May 4, and will be their first record since 'Saturday Night Wrist,' which was released on Halloween back in 2006. Since their last album, though, the band has seen more than its fair share of trials and tribulations.

In 2008, as they were in the middle of recording a new album titled 'Eros,' bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a near fatal car accident in Santa Clara. After former Quicksand member Sergio Vega filled in for Cheng on bass, the group tried to recapture their cohesive magic, and even performed live without their longtime bandmate, who remained in intensive care. Ultimately, though, the Deftones decided to put 'Eros' on indefinite hold, saying in a statement that Cheng's fragile condition weighed "heavily on our minds."

With both Cheng and 'Eros' on the sidelines, the group returned to the studio to start anew, and teamed up with Nick Raskuilinecz to begin work on 'Diamond Eyes.' In February, the Deftones gave fans a preview of the kind of sound to expect on their new 2010 album, with a free download of the single 'Rocket Skates' that they posted to their website. In an interview with Spin Magazine, lead singer Chino Moreno called 'Rocket Skates' one of his favorite tracks on their new album, which he said is rife with "beautiful yet violent imagery." On March 10, the group released the official video for the new single, and released their second single, 'Diamond Eyes,' just a few days later.

As Moreno told Spin back in February, despite all the difficulties that the Deftones have faced recently, they've made a conscious effort to not overtly incorporate their personal narrative into their new 2010 album. "I've been wanting to record a fantasy album like 'White Pony,' where the lyrics are less, 'This is my life and this is what we're going through,'" Moreno says. "It helps take us away from reality. I don't like listening to people's problems -- I like music."