Nearly a decade after the release of their groundbreaking debut, The Sickness, Disturbed have become one of the most respected bands in the hard-rock universe thanks not only to pummeling riffs and jackhammer beats but passionate insights into our troubled times. Three platinum-plus albums—Believe and Ten Thousand Fists charted #1—have led to Indestructible, the group's darkest, angriest outing yet.
On their third album, Disturbed don't as much break out of expected patterns as show their potential for doing so. Fans eager for more of the band's patented fist-thumping gruel will take satisfaction in the album's opening (and anthemic) title track, plus "I'm Alive" and "Forgiven." The band shines brightest in the record's early moments, where "Deify," "Guarded," "Just Stop," and "Stricken" demonstrate that this unit's capable of discovering a song's subtleties and crafting radio-ready choruses meant to uplift the souls of disenfranchised subdivision dwellers. The album isn't without its problems--come the halfway mark ("Sons of Plunder") vocalist David Draiman and his mates lapse into the expected, with a series of songs that are good but rarely as remarkable as those found in Act I. That said, Ten Thousand Fists ultimately reminds us that Disturbed refuse to relent in their journey toward greatness. --Jedd Beaudoin
The Windy City alt-metal provocateurs Disturbed surprised everyone when their debut, The Sickness, sold over 2 million copies. Here, once again, the band's imperious chrome-domed vocalist David Draiman bleats out the band's messages of nonconformity, self-empowerment, and individuality with a passion and ferocity that hasn't been heard since the '60s--though there's little room for peace, love, and understanding in Disturbed's world. Instead, Draiman laces the band's message with equal parts rage, disgust, and menace, all delivered in a thundering voice that alternates from the lyrical to the grizzled. Ozzy Osbourne has called Disturbed the "future of metal," and he might be right; they have almost single-handedly plucked the genre out of the aggro dung heap and fueled it with intelligence. The band is just as aggressive here as on their debut, but they've lost some of their dark angst, and as a result have created a melodic, psychically lighter album, despite the fact that the CD kicks off with "Prayer," a conversation between Draiman and God, inspired by the singer's grandfather's death. --Jaan Uhelszki
