Metal Asylum

When I went to purchase the new Disturbed album, Asylum, I was disturbed to find it hidden in the rock section of the record store. After listening to the whole CD, I was relieved to find that this was clearly an error; Disturbed is very much still a metal band.

Disturbed is most famous for their groundbreaking single “Down With The Sickness,” from their first studio album The Sickness, released in 2000. The intense drum beats provided by Mike Wengren and provocative, guttural vocals of David Draiman immediately captivated American metal fans. Ten years and five studio albums later, the band has not abandoned their original gritty style.

As with most metal, the lyrical content found in Disturbed albums deals with larger than life themes including war, violence, relationships, and the concepts of Heaven, Hell, and redemption. The lyrics in Asylum are not as meaningful as those in their last album, Indestructible, which featured the single “Inside the Fire,” a song about Draiman standing over the body of his ex-girlfriend following her suicide while the Devil whispers in his ear to join her in the fires of Hell. Some tracks on Asylum deal with other personal issues from the signer's life, but many lack depth and meaning.

While lyrical content is decidedly less inspirational in Asylum than in their other albums, Draiman's voice has never sounded better. He puts so much feeling into every note he hits, flawlessly switching between smooth singing and the rough, throaty style that first made Disturbed famous. The fourth track on Asylum entitled “Another Way To Die,” is about pollution of the environment, a long reach for any metal band, but Draiman pulls it off making environmentalism metal with his unique style.

The guitar work of Dan Donegan has grown increasingly impressive with each album release, culminating in wailing metal solos on almost every track on Asylum. Traditional metal techniques such as pinch harmonics, tremolo picking, and sweep arpeggios adorn most of these solos. While the style is very much Donegan's own, one can't help but think of the metal gods when listening to these solos. There is definitely a taste of Pantera's Dimebag Darrel, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine in every riff and solo on the album. Chordal progressions rarely appear in Disturbed songs, as Donegan prefers to craft constantly shifting riffs which move up and down the scale endlessly.

As with their previous albums, Asylum starts off with the heaviest tracks and progresses into touching originals fueled by Draiman's personal emotions. The ninth track, “Serpentine,” is a slower song about being betrayed by someone you have trusted. The chorus is features some of the best lyrics on the album: “I was caught up in the moment / We were alone and you seemed to harness the light / Even though I felt cold inside / When you told me it would be alright.”

Disturbed has released a cover of a non-metal song on each of their odd numbered albums, and Asylum, their fifth album, does not disappoint. The unlisted 13th track on the album is entitled “ISHFWILF” a stunning metal rendition of U2's “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.” On previous albums Disturbed released covers of Tears For Fears's “Shout,” and Genesis's “Land Of Confusion,” proving that any song can be made metal if the right feeling is put into it.

The Sickness and Believe, Disturbed's first two albums were released with parental advisory warnings, but their past three albums were not. While some fans are disappointed with this, saying that it is proof that the band has “sold out,” the lack of “mature content” which leads to the parental advisory means that Disturbed singles are more widely played on the radio. Disturbed fits into a very specific genre which I like to call gateway metal. Many parents do not mind their children listening to Disturbed because they no longer produce albums with the mature content warning. Children, or even adults who do not typically listen to metal, are often enthralled by the band's in-your-face attitude and as a result, end up listening to harder metal.

Asylum is absolutely not Disturbed's best album, but it definitely conveys the in-your-face attitude that all metal strives for. After all, metal is not about lyrical content or even technical instrumental skill, its about the discharge of emotions which society usually demands we to keep to ourselves. Disturbed may not be the hardest metal out there, but they are certainly still their own unique brand of metal, and they still rock.