{"id":40038,"date":"2025-08-02T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40038\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T13:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T13:16:09","slug":"deftones-the-story-of-the-unreleased-eros-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40038\/","title":{"rendered":"Deftones: the story of the unreleased Eros album"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deftones<\/a>\u2019 2006 album Saturday Night Wrist was made in tumultuous circumstances. The band split from longtime producer Terry Date early in the sessions, and singer Chino Moreno<\/a> clashed with his replacement, veteran Alice Cooper\/Kiss studio guru Bob Ezrin \u2013 a situation not helped by the frontman\u2019s battle with substance abuse.<\/p>\n

By contrast, the atmosphere had completely shifted when Deftones convened in 2007 to write what would be their sixth album. In 2008, they revealed that the title of the record they were working on would be Eros, and that it would be released early the following year. They even premiered a new track, Melanie, during live shows in September 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were getting along so well during the Eros sessions,\u201d Chino told The independent in 2016. \u201cIt\u2019s like the music actually was even taking a backseat to our friendships. We\u2019d go into the studio, and we were way into playing the board game Risk at the time, so we\u2019d set up this elaborate game of Risk that would last for weeks at a time. Terry Date was producing that record and he\u2019d come in and be like, \u2018C\u2019mon guys, let\u2019s get to work\u2019 and we\u2019d be like, \u2018One more game.\u2019 We were having so much fun together as friends and reconnecting \u2013 then during those sessions is when Chi had his accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On November 4, 2008, bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a car crash in Santa Clara, California, when the vehicle he was travelling in hit another car and flipped three times. The accident left the bassist in a coma.<\/p>\n

Understandably distraught, the rest of the band abandoned work on Eros. According to Chino, they had recorded 11 or 12 songs, among them Smile, Trempest, Dallas, Destiny and Melanie (sone of the titles apocryphally named after strippers).<\/p>\n

\u201cMusically it\u2019s probably 75-80% done and lyrically it was about halfway there, but honestly, I wasn\u2019t too happy with the material we had,\u201d Chino told The Independent in 2016. \u201cSome of the music was lacking a little bit. I had faith it was going to come together and be great in the end, but we never got to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Chi still in a coma, Deftones gradually returned to touring, with former Orange 9mm bassist Sergio Vega standing in. The latter appeared on the band\u2019s next two albums, 2010\u2019s Diamond Eyes and 2012\u2019s Koi No Yokan. Neither featured any of the material written during the aborted Eros sessions.<\/p>\n

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Tragically, Chi never woke from his coma. He passed away on April 13, 2013. His death put paid to the idea of revisiting the Eros sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Chi had his accident, everything came to a halt with the Eros sessions, so the idea of going back to that batch of songs, finishing them and have Sergio learn Chi\u2019s parts just hasn\u2019t felt like something that we\u2019re interested in doing,\u201d Chino said in 2016. \u201cIf the record were finished and we were just sitting on it, we probably would have put it out by now, maybe even given it away, just so that people can hear it, but it would take a lot more work to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

One song from the Eros sessions has been released. To mark the first anniversary of Chi\u2019s death, Chino uploaded Smile, the only completed song, to YouTube. The track was swiftly taken down by Deftones\u2019 label, but it remains a tantalising glimpse of what could have been.<\/p>\n

Will Eros ever see the light of day? In 2017, Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham suggested that it might.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything at all, I see some tracks from it coming out in some form or another,\u201d he told Overdrive. \u201cThere is some really fucking bad-ass stuff on that album, but also stuff that\u2019s not that good in my opinion. We know that there is interest in the album from the die-hards but I\u2019m sure we will do the right thing at the right time with it\u2026 it\u2019s something that could surface in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t happened yet. And if Chino Moreno is to be believed, it seems unlikely that it ever will.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take basically going in and finishing it,\u201d the singer told Uproxx in 2020. \u201cEmotionally heavy. Just because it\u2019s the last thing that Chi played on. Not saying that we won\u2019t do it, but we haven\u2019t made any plans any time in the near future to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deftones – Smile (Lyric Video) from the unreleased Deftones album, Eros – YouTube
\n\"Deftones<\/p>\n

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