The “lost” album by Deftones, Eros, has been released online after 18 years

And the fans are divided, between those who welcomed the news with enthusiasm and those who were outraged recalling the tragic story that led to the cancellation of that record.

Eros, the legendary lost album by the Deftones, has leaked online after eighteen years of waiting. The news has immediately divided the band’s fanbase, opening an “ethical” debate between those who couldn’t resist the curiosity and those who believe that these files should never have been released. The album cover features a jellyfish, and inside are eleven tracks, originally recorded for what was supposed to be the group’s sixth album. Everything suddenly appeared on an online board along with some demos recorded for their ninth album Ohms.

To understand the significance of this leak, one must step back to the spring of 2007, when the Deftones began working on the album, announcing its title, Eros, in January 2008. However, the recording sessions were abruptly interrupted in the first week of November of the same year, due to a serious car accident in Santa Clara, California, involving the band’s bassist, Chi Cheng. At the time of the impact, Cheng was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the vehicle. His condition was immediately critical: he fell into a coma for months, underwent brain surgery, and even after waking from the coma, remained in a state of semi-consciousness. In the following years, he showed small improvements – he could move his legs, follow a moving object with his eyes – but he never regained his speech and could never play the bass again. Cheng passed away on April 13, 2013, at the age of 42. This is why in July 2009 the band announced the decision to shelve Eros: out of respect for Cheng and for respect for Sergio Vega, the band’s new bassist, with whom they began working on a new album, Diamond Eyes, released in 2010.

In 2014, on the first anniversary of Chi Cheng’s passing, frontman Chino Moreno had posted a song titled Smile on YouTube, but it was quickly removed by the record label Maverick. Over the years, the group has always expressed strong reservations about the possibility of releasing that material. Moreno himself, in an interview with the Guardian, confessed that Eros would probably never see the light of day, explaining that finishing the album would mean reopening old wounds. On another occasion, however, speaking with theIndependent, the singer admitted that he was not entirely enthusiastic about the recordings from a quality standpoint, describing the work as only 80 percent complete musically and 50 percent complete regarding the lyrics.

Today, the leaked tracks online bear the provisional titles chosen by the band at the time: Destiny, Brenda, Melanie, Smile, Margot, Candy, Sable, Electra, Trempest, Diamond, and Briana. The incomplete and raw nature of these recordings is fueling deep discussions among fans online: «Some great stuff on here. A shame they aren’t finishing it. On a related note, Soundgarden have been in the studio for a year completing the last demos with Chris before his passing. They’ll be releasing it soon so everyone can hear his last songs with the band. I wish Deftones would do the same with Eros». Those who did not appreciate this leak, however, emphasize that there is a reason the band decided not to release these recordings and that these reasons are not only about artistic quality but also about the life and death of a human being.