The Deftones’ long-lost 2008 album Eros, along with demos from their ninth studio album Ohms, has reportedly leaked online. Fans of the band are now divided over whether or not they should be listening to the unreleased material.
The leak has sparked a wide range of reactions within the Deftones community. Some fans are expressing moral hesitation, while others remain curious despite the circumstances.
“Alright, so I guess we’ve all seen the news by now. Eros actually leaked today,” one fan wrote. “After like 18 years of myths and checking forums, it’s out there. I know everyone is hyped and curious to finally hear it, but honestly, the more I think about it, the more it feels wrong. There’s a huge reason why the band kept this locked away in a vault for nearly two decades.”
Others were simply stunned by the news itself.
“Just absolutely shocked it leaked after all this time,” another fan said. “How does that even happen?”
Not all fans were ready to hold back entirely, however. Some acknowledged the ethical complexity while still engaging with the material.
“Wrong or not, we have had way worse reasons to dump excitement for a leak or release before,” a third fan noted. “Having said that it is obviously in an unfinished state just as Chino said. It is however far ‘further along’ than I guessed. The band will be mad at the link, not the fans absorbing it. Your critical thought is very important however. Chino is very much the point of guilt I feel hearing the unreleased nearly finished songs.”
The band has not yet issued an official statement in response to the leak.
The weight behind the fan reaction becomes clearer when the history of Eros is taken into account. This is not simply a shelved record — it is a deeply personal artifact tied to one of the most tragic chapters in the band’s history.
Eros was recorded between April and November 2008 at The Spot in Los Angeles. It was originally slated for release in 2008 or 2009. The project was shelved after bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident in November 2008. He remained in a minimally conscious state until his death in 2013. The album holds the distinction of being the last material Chi Cheng ever recorded with the band, a fact that has made the leak especially sensitive for many within the Deftones community.
Frontman Chino Moreno has been candid over the years about the album’s fate. He has repeatedly stated that Eros “will most likely never see the light of day.” Completing it, he has explained, would mean reopening old wounds tied to an unfinished and deeply painful period in the band’s history.
The only piece of music from the Eros sessions to receive any kind of official release was “Smile.” Moreno quietly uploaded the track to the Deftones’ YouTube channel in 2014, on the first anniversary of Chi Cheng’s death. It was later pulled from streaming services, leaving it as a brief and bittersweet glimpse into what the album might have been.
For many fans, those layers of grief and unresolved history are precisely what make listening to the leak feel complicated. The record was never meant to be heard in its current state. The circumstances that prevented its completion have never stopped being painful — for the band or for those who followed them through it.
Source: Reddit – r/deftones
