DEFTONES Frontman On New Album: 'We Reached A Peak On Our Dynamics On This Record'

Sacramento's DEFTONES has tentatively set October 9 as the release date for its seventh album, which will follow up 2010's "Diamond Eyes". That disc was the group's most successful and acclaimed outing in years, and lead singer Chino Moreno told Billboard.com why the band got back to work faster than usual. "It was important that we wanted to not drag it out," he says. "We have a well-documented history of taking forever to make records. But with our last record, we did it in a really short, good amount of time, probably four or five months from the time we started writing until we finished it. For us, that was record time, so this time the idea was, 'Let's go in and start a record on this date and let's try to be finished by summertime and keep this work ethic we kind of stumbled upon on the last one,' and we did."

DEFTONES worked again with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who produced "Diamond Eyes" and has also worked on albums by RUSH and FOO FIGHTERS.

The new disc is currently being mixed and the band has yet to decide on a title. Asked how it sounds, Moreno told Billboard.com, "It's not a super fast or slow record. It's very dynamic. Some of my favorite things about DEFTONES are the dynamics. Yes, we're a heavy band, but we're not just in-your-face aggro the whole time, punching you in the face. There's a lot of aggression in some of the music, but there's also this very soothing element where there's a lot of soundscapes rather than attack, attack, attack the whole time. I understand that's a big part of our sound, but I really feel like we reached a peak on our dynamics on this record with those two qualities — the beauty of something and just straight, ruthless aggression."

The group also intends to continue their tradition of recording several cover tunes that could end up as B-sides, with Moreno revealing that they've been toying with songs from ELVIS PRESLEY and EARTH, WIND & FIRE, among others.

DEFTONES will promote the new CD's upcoming release with a string of tour dates with SYSTEM OF A DOWN, beginning on August 2 in Camden, New Jersey.

"Diamond Eyes" debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard album chart when it came out, making it the band's highest charting effort since 2003's "Deftones".

"Diamond Eyes" featured two Top 20 rock hits in the title track and "You've Seen The Butcher".

The album was written and recorded after the late 2008 auto accident that left bassist Chi Cheng in a semi-comatose state. An album completed before Cheng's accident, titled "Eros", remains unreleased.

Cheng remains in a semi-comatose state although he has been showing gradual signs of consciousness and recovery for the past year. His replacement on "Diamond Eyes", Sergio Vega, also plays on the new DEFTONES disc.