DEFTOnES

Eros was shelved after bassist Chi Cheng’s tragic accident, leaving fans wondering what might have been In contrast to

the tumultuous recording environment for 2006’s

the atmosphere had completely shifted when Deftones began to write what should have been their sixth album in 2008. “We were getting along so well during the sessions. It’s like the music actually was even taking a backseat to our friendships”, Chino Moreno told journalist Matt Pinfield in 2016. “We’d go into the studio, and we were way into playing the board game Risk at the time, so we’d set up this elaborate game of Risk that would last for weeks at a time. Terry Date was producing that record and he’d come in and be like, ‘C’mon guys, let’s get to work’ and we’d be like, ‘One more game.’ We were having so much fun together as friends and reconnecting – then during those sessions is when Chi had his accident.”

The album that emerged from the sessions, titled was all set to be released around the turn of 2009, with