It’s time to reflect on the year in music! This month, we’ll be highlighting Jam of Today’s favourite albums of 2025. Working our way up to the #1 album, which will be revealed on the 31st of December, we’ll go one by one past this year’s favourites. Today, our #13: ‘private music‘ by Deftones.

They were the main source of inspiration for a large chunk of albums in this year’s endlist and managed to get an entire new generation addicted to a sound they’ve been making for over 35 years already. “Why not release our tenth album then”, they must’ve thought as their popularity rose to highs not seen in many years. And so they did with ‘private music’, Deftones’ first album in five years. An album having the potential of becoming a classic. Not amongst the old-school fans, but definitely amongst those brand new cool kids rocking up to their show.

‘Cos, crikey. If there was one thing catching me off guard this year, it must’ve been the intense influx of teens liking Deftones all of a sudden. I’m very well aware these revivals come and go each year. “The spinning wheel of cultural zeitgeist”, I read somewhere online. Still, when my entire neighbourhood was overflowing with alternative younguns earlier this year, I couldn’t help but wondering if it was actually Deftones playing Crystal Palace Park that evening. I suppose I can’t be negative about this development. I mean, I’d way rather see people enjoying quality music like this than launching yet another run of the mill pop singer or singer-songwriter to temporary stardom. Especially if this means bands like Deftones will be releasing quality albums again.

Like I mentioned in my review of this album in August, ‘private music’ is an overall perfect blend of most of the skills Deftones have shown us during their career. At times, it feels like this is the one where it all comes together for the band. Each song seems to have something stereotypically Deftones to it, yet it is still a very varied release, not being stuck in one particular energy or vibe. If you search for reviews of ‘private music’ online, you will get overwhelmed by the positive responses. 4,5/5 stars by AllMusic, DIY, and Metal Hammer, 5/5 by Kerrang! and NME and even notorious snobs Pitchfork are handing out a very solid 7.6 / 10. It’s no surprise. If you look at all the times Deftones has been mentioned in reviews of recent nu-metal, grunge, and shoegaze releases, it’s only safe to say that with ‘private music’, they have confirmed what most of us already knew: Deftones doesn’t make music within this genre, they are the genre.