Review Summary: While the album seems samey at first, you can appreciate it after multiple listens.
Disturbed is:
David Draiman - Lead Vocals
Dan Donegan - Guitar
John Moyer - Bass, Vocals
Mike Wengren - Drums
Disturbed is a hard rock/metal/nu-metal band. This is a good album for anyone who wants to head-bang. One fact about the band is that they tend to use the same structure over and over again. But still, they usually write pretty good songs. This can be a good or bad thing. The structure is something like:
Opening Guitar Riff
Verse
Prechorus
Chorus
Opening Riff
Verse
Prechorus
Chorus
Opening Riff
Bridge
Opening Riff
Outro
As of now, this is Disturbed's most recent album. This is the only one i own, and it's a pretty good listen. Here is my breakdown of it.
Ten Thousand Fists:
There is an ambient intro in this song, with some interesting effects/keyboard (correct me if I’m wrong). Then the song just blasts off with a real heavy sound. David Drainman's vocals are really good here. The first thing I thought when I heard him here was that he kind of sounds like the guy from Genesis. Anyway, back to the song, This song is kind of all over the place, in a good way, and it gives you an overall sound of all of Disturbed's playing styles. There are background effects among this song. The song just is pretty fast and heavy occasionally stopping for some soft parts with just David and some effects. Overall it's a great opening track.
4/5
Just Stop:
I was afraid this was going to be a disappointing track because of the intro, but the guitar comes in with a pretty awesome fast riff. The verse slows down with a cool mid-tempo riffs and vocals, and the chorus is pretty melodic in a way. Then the pre-verse brings back the cool riff from the intro. The only downfall with this song is that it kind of sounds like Ten Thousand Fists with less background effects. David also shows off some low, throat singing which isn't really great or terrible.
3.5/5
Guarded:
This song has another interesting riff in the intro. This song manages to make itself stand out from the previous two tracks. After the intro and the verse, the chorus can get kind of boring, but the verse kicks in with double bass before you lose interest in the chorus. The chorus is kind of slow and ambient with a complimenting guitar. It takes a few listens to fully appreciate this song, but the breakdown/bridge is pretty good to, and is one of the albums high points.
4.5/5
Deify:
Another ambient intro here, with some soft effects and some guy talking. This track manages to make it different from the other songs as well, with some different effects before the verse, and some interesting bass work during the verse. This track has some boring guitar riffs throughout it though. It’s kind of slow and boring. This isn't Disturbed's best song, but it is unique and is a solid enough track. Repetitive too.
2.5/5
Stricken:
This is the famed GH3 track. This track has a notable opening riff, and an interesting bass lick before the verse if you listen closely. This song is slowed down like "Deify" but it has more head-bangability. This song sort of has a bit of a Black Sabbath feel to it at parts. The chorus seems kind of short, but the opening riff comes back in the usual Disturbed style. The first guitar solo on the album also makes an appearance, it's pretty good while staying melodic and not being mindless shredding. Overall, this is a pretty good, straightforward rock song. This song is one of the album's high points.
5/5
I'm Alive:
This song is pretty heavy. It has a low-pitched riff at the beginning. Dave shows off a different vocal style in the verse, and the song sounds like it is building up to explode at the chorus, it doesn’t really do that though, but the chorus is pretty amazing with the vocals and drums being the driving forces of it, the chorus is pretty melodic. The guitar work during the verse is pretty good too. Disturbed manages to make another really good song here.
4.5/5
Sons of Plunder:
This song kind of sounds a bit samey during the intro, but it kicks in with another verse getting ready to explode. The vocals in this song are really good. The guitar work is pretty interesting in the pre-chorus and intro. This song manages to stand out from the others. The bridge also shows a different side to disturbed too, a softer side. Then the bridge explodes into a pretty awesome heavy part. This could be one of my favorite song on the album. The chorus is pretty catchy
4/5
Overburdened:
This is the longest track on the album. There is some ambient effects at first, then a very soothing melodic, clean, soft, guitar comes in. There is a low voice saying stuff. Then everything stops. Then a distorted guitar comes in and plays some chords along with the soft guitar. Then everyone comes in. This song is probably the best soft song. David shows off some really good vocal talent during the verse. There is also another guitar solo in this song. This song shows off some progressive talent from the band. There is also an explosion of sound near the end. One of the best tracks with great instrumentation.
5/5
Decadence:
This album starts really low quality with a distorted guitar. Then everyone kicks in with one of the fastest intros on the album with some pretty cool guitar work. The verse slows down a bit, and then the chorus slows it down to a normal tempo. This song kind of has the same structure as a lot of disturbed song, bringing the opening riff back after the chorus, but I’ll talk about that later. This is probably the fastest track on the album. There are cool dual vocals at the bridge as well. This song shows the metal talent that the band has.
4/5
Forgiven:
That low voice comes back. As usual, all the instruments kick in for the intro the vocals can get kind of repetitive in the verse. The chorus is kind of cool at the chorus. This song gets soft at one point with good vocal talent from David. There is another guitar solo in this song too. This song is kind of boring and repetitive; the guitar solo is the only real high point of this song.
2/5
Land of Confusion:
This is a cover of the Genesis song "Land of Confusion", since David kind of sounds like that guy IMO. This song works pretty well. It kind of sounds like one of those "rock anthems". They also added a few original touches to the song with their bridge, and guitar solo thing. The song drags at parts, but then there is a pretty mind blowing solo, and then it gets back to the original cover after Disturbed's creative part that they made themselves. In my opinion, the drums are the driving force of this song.
Sacred Lie:
This song has a really heavy intro guitar riff. The verse is pretty cool, but the vocals are kind of choppy and annoying. When you get to the bridge, this song gets kind of samey and isn't very unique, I guess it's solid enough though.
3/5
Pain Redefined:
The intro to this song is a more unique, and kind of makes up for the disappointing "Sacred Lie". This song just works really well with the cool tempo of the verse. The pre-chorus is a bit repetitive, but it has an effective build-up effect. The chorus works really well too, its heavy and powerful. The usual disturbed song structure comes back as well, not really bad or good. There is a kind of weird soft part in this song that gets on my nerves a bit because the bass and guitar are kind of out of key to each other. The end of this song is pretty crazy and energetic, and the opening riff comes back at the end of the song, and the song ends abruptly. This song should have all weak parts taken out, like that soft part, then it would be really good.
3.5/5
Avarice:
These guys take the speed up 2 notches with the opening. This song shows some pretty technical guitar work in the usual intro. This song is one of the heaviest on the album. It brings back the same disturbed song structure. The bridge in this song can drag a bit because it’s kind of boring and slow, IMO they should have kept the entire song really fast, but whatever, it’s still solid enough to end off the album.
3/5
Conclusion:
In the end, Disturbed produce a pretty unique sound unlike its contemporaries. And can reach out to fans of Hard Rock, Metal, Nu-Metal, Rapcore, and maybe even Metalcore. The album seems samey at first, but after giving it a listen or two, you will realize that most of the songs are different. This band also can mix Nu-Metal with guitar solos, which is pretty cool. I think this is a pretty strong album but you have to kind of force yourself to listen to it, then you will really enjoy it, most of the songs have pretty good replay value too. I think this album could use a few more guitar solos.
Positive Points:
David's Vocal Talent
Most Guitar Work
Bass
Overall Unique Disturbed Sound
Good Guitar Solos
Negative Points:
Overused Song Structure
Sometimes David's Screaming can be bad
Not many Drum Fills
This album probably could have gotten a five if the weaker tracks were taken out and there were more solos:
OVERALL ALBUM RATING:
3.5/5
