Suspected album art for "Eros".
Deftones - Melanie "New Music" (Front Row View) Live @ The Ventura Theatre Sept 08'
Live recording of "Melanie", a track from the album.
Deftones - Melanie Live
Another live recording of "Melanie".
Deftones Demo
"You've Seen the Butcher" (original) instrumental demo.
On April 14th, 2008, Deftones began recording what was to be their sixth studio album, titled "Eros" (the name coming from a band in-joke stemming from the use of the term "Eros" in German porn). In July of the same year, Chino Moreno posted an instrumental demo online for a new song titled "You've Seen the Butcher" (they would later re-use this title for a different song on their 2010 album "Diamond Eyes" after Eros was shelved). In September, they began playing a new track called Melanie during live-performances, and recording of the album commenced all the way up until November of 2008. Alongside recording the album, they released 5 in-studio mini-documentaries online (and one rehearsal video of an unspecified song) following the album's progress.
On November 3, 2008, just as Moreno had left the studio after recording some vocal tracks for the new album (of which he was halfway through completing) he was delivered the grave news that bassist Chi Cheng had been involved in a serious car accident only a short while beforehand. Cheng was rushed to hospital, and was later announced to be in a coma. All production on the album immediately ceased and the band turned their focus to their injured friend.
As of Cheng's accident, he is now able to move his legs on command, and follow people around the room with his eyes, but he can't move or speak otherwise. Deftones have since released 2 albums with replacement bassist Sergio Vega, titled "Diamond Eyes" (2010) and "Koi No Yokan" (2012) respectively, in both of which Cheng is frequently alluded to. The band have publicly said that the reason for the new albums was a purely creative choice to write an uplifting album (as Eros is said to be quite a dark album) to help cope with the current situation of band-mate Cheng.
The band have stated that while they do intend to release the album at some point, they have not decided how or when it would happen, although Moreno has stated in an interview that if it were to be released, he'd like it to be released after Cheng fully recovers from his accident, as it was the last record Cheng played on, and so that they could tour for the album with all the original members. It has also been said that they want enough time to pass between Cheng's accident and Eros' release so as to not draw a correlation between the two events, and so that the songs could hold up on their own merit.
A piece of artwork taken from Deftones' website during the production period of Eros is suspected to be the album cover, but this is yet to be confirmed.
UPDATE 16 Apr: Sadly, Chi Cheng passed away on April 13th, 2013 at the age of 42. RIP Chi :(
Announced Working Track Titles
Allegedly, these four songs are named after strippers:
- "Dallas"
- "Destiny"
- "Melanie"
- "Trempest"
In-Studio Specials
Only 5 of these specials were released online before Cheng's tragic accident.
In-Studio video 1.
In-Studio video 2.
In-Studio video 4.
In-Studio video 3.
In-Studio video 5.
Extra: Rehearsal of unspecified song from Eros.