What's Going on With Deftones' Lost Album 'Eros'? Chino Moreno Responds

After years of speculation, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno has a confession to make about the long-shelved Eros album. The musician revealed that the album "most likely will never see the light of day."

Deftones are back with their Private Music album today, but speculation has continued throughout the years on what will ever happen to the music from the final sessions they ever had with late bassist Chi Cheng. At the time, the group were working on an album titled Eros, but they stopped their work when Cheng was involved in a car crash that left him in a coma.

What Did Chino Moreno Say About the Deftones' Lost Eros Album?

The subject tends to come up with each new album cycle and this time it was The Guardian who asked Moreno about the status of Eros.

"It will most likely never see the light of day," shared the vocalist. "That would involve going back to that period and resurrecting unfinished things and somehow bringing them to completion. 'Dallas' is the only song that was anywhere near finished."

The singer added further context to why he thinks it will never be revisited. He explained, "This new album [Private Music] started with ideas we’d been working on alone, through the pandemic. And when we got together to actually start making the record, none of us wanted to look back at those ideas from the pandemic — we wanted to capture the moment we’re in today. So going back to try to capture what was happening back during Eros and finishing those ideas doesn’t really make sense."

What Happened With the Eros Album?

In the aftermath of 2006's Saturday Night Wrist album, Deftones returned to work on the follow-up Eros in the spring of 2007. The band reunited with producer Terry Date and started laying out material that Moreno had described as "unorthodox and aggressive."

But on Nov. 4, 2008, Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car crash in Santa Clara, Calif.  He was left in a minimally conscious state and remained in a coma. By January 2009, the group made the decision to bring in Sergio Vega on bass as Cheng's health was not progressing. They scrapped the music they had been working on at the time and started fresh with what would become the Diamond Eyes album.

In the spring of 2009, the band shared, "As we neared completion on Eros, we realized that this record doesn't best encompass and represent who we are currently as people and as musicians. And although those songs will see the light of day at some point, we collectively made the decision that we needed to take a new approach, and with Chi's condition heavy on our minds while doing so. We needed to return to the studio to do what we felt was right artistically."

Cheng died in 2013 and the group discussed potentially revisiting the music in the aftermath. They issued the previously unreleased song "Smile" from the Eros sessions in 2014, but the song was soon removed from streaming services by the band's label. Five years later, the band gave the track its live debut during their second annual Dia De Los Deftones performance in San Diego in 2019. But beyond that, the band has not issued any further material from the shelved sessions.

The band has show a hesitancy to revisit the material over the years. In 2020, Moreno shared in an Uproxx feature ranking their albums, "To open up those files would probably be heavy too. Emotionally heavy. Just because it’s the last thing that Chi played on. Not saying that we won’t do it, but we haven’t made any plans any time in the near future to do so.."

Deftones in 2025

Deftones are back in a big way in 2025. The Private Music album is their first new offering in five years. The band teased the new record with the singles "My Mind Is a Mountain" and "Milk of the Madonna" prior to its release today (Aug. 22). The album is currently available to order through the band's website.

READ MORE: Unpacking the 'Private Music' Album + More With Deftones

The group is also in the midst of a tour supporting the album. They'll be playing Vancouver's Rogers Arena tonight (Aug. 22) with another weekend show Sunday (Aug. 24) at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Their current North American trek concludes Sept. 20 at Louisville's Louder Than Life festival, though three more festival dates will conclude their 2025 touring. The group will appear at Aftershock in Sacramento Oct. 3, will stage their annual Dia De Los Deftones performance at San Diego's Petco Park on Nov. 1 and they'll place Corona Capital in Mexico City on Nov. 16. A European tour is also on the books for early 2026. Get all Deftones ticketing information and tour dates through their website.