Famous 2000s metal/hard rock act Disturbed are back at it again with their 7th studio album, Evolution. Even though I'm not a huge Disturbed fan, I have liked a song here and there and a statement from vocalist David Draiman made me curious, especially after hearing the first couple singles. He said something along the lines of this album was going to do for them what The Black Album did to Metallica. So what did The Black Album do, and how good of a record is it? Well, The Black Album is one of Metallica's best records and it them in several innovative directions that were great new turns for the band and it not just changed them, but it made metal more "Acceptable" in mainstream music. I'm not a rocket scientist, but that's a pretty big deal. So what does Evolution do for both Disturbed and hard rock/metal as a genre?
Let's start with the beginning, the lead single and opening track, Are You Ready. I heard this the day it was released, and I felt there was cause for concern. It's one of the most standard Disturbed songs I've ever heard. After it was done I thought, "Yep. That was a Disturbed song.". The thing is, this isn't a particularly good one. The lyrics are incredibly repetitive and boring "Rise up against your oppressors" cliches, the guitar work in average, the bass is lost in the mix, the drums feel phoned in, and Draiman's vocals are a bit grading. Still, it's just one song. It may have just been a bad pick for a lead single. Maybe the next singles and the album's deep cuts will will up to Draiman's statement.
The second pre-release single, A Reason To Fight, is much different stylistically speaking. It's an acoustic song more in line with their Sound of Silence cover rather than something like 10000 Fists (They even got the same guy who directed the Sound of Silence video to direct this music video). That would be fine, but this song is vapid and boring. It's a track about recovery from addiction or thoughts of suicide, which can be powerful if done right, but it's not. Like Are You Ready, it feels lacking and underwritten. It's not as grading as that song is, but it's more boring. Nothing interesting is going on the instrumentals, which I'd actually be fine with if the lyrics were interesting or well-written, but they're about as deep as a Christian contemporary song. This is when it hit me; This album is going to bomb... Really. Hard. I dreaded listening to it, and here we here. A perfect descriptor of the band's process for this album comes from the third pre-release single The Best Ones Lie, which contains the line, "So how about you don't even try?". That signaled everything. If I read deeper into that line, I wouldn't have listened to this. To put it bluntly, this album sucked. Big time.
There's a whole lot to say, so let's just get started. This album already hits filler on the second song, No More, which just feels like Are You Ready 2.0 and I can't believe I remembered this song. In Another Time is a standout, but not in a particularly good way. The instrumental is boring, and it feels like Draiman is an old man complaining about how young people are online too much (There's literally a line in the song that says addresses it in an extremely blunt manner in the chorus). While I do agree mostly with what he's saying (I'm a bit addicted to tech myself, not gonna lie), it's not memorable and it feels whiny.
Speaking of whiny, the third and final pre-release single The Best Ones Lie is exactly that, and it comes off as pathetic. I think it's about the fans complaining about the quality of their music and betraying them, but can you blame them at this point? If their music is of this quality nowadays, of course the fans are going to be upset. This is up there for my least favorite track on the entire record, and there's really only one other competitor, and that's Hold On To Memories, one of the many acoustic tracks on this record. Holy crap, this might be the most cliched song I've heard all year. The lyrics about not forgetting memories, but moving on is super cheesy and derivative of other, just as boring songs. It's the longest song on the record, and I feel every second of it. I can find lyrics this heartfelt on a Wal-Mart birthday card.
Speaking of the ballads, they take up almost half of the entire LP, and they don't work. It's like someone in the band went, "Hey, our Sound of Silence cover did really well. Let's just do that a million times!" and the rest of the band just went with it because they wanted to pay their bills. If they were decent songs, I wouldn't mind, but the instrumentation is dull and the lyrics, which is arguably the most important part of songs like this, aren’t strong enough to hold their own. Heck, I don't even understand why the track Watch You Burn is acoustic. Even Hold Unto Memories, A Reason To Fight, and Already Gone feel like they work best in an acoustic format. What maddens me about this track is that it could've had a great verse-to-chorus build-up if they went electric. The lyrics are also a bit better on this one, albeit not great, and I see potential for a decent song if it was heavier. Maybe not an all-time favorite, but a track that's worth checking out, at least. That's more than I could say for the finished product. It feels weird because I feel like it was written electric, but then that one band member or all of them for all I know went up and said, "Let's hit this sucker with The Sound of Silence! Yay, now it's as bland as Nickelback!".
Okay, I guess now's the time to give the album a little credit. I kinda liked Saviour of Nothing, which is about SJWs becoming what they swore not to become hence the title. There's a bit more punch to this one, the lyrics, while not great, work well enough and I kind of enjoyed listening to it. The acoustic closer Already Gone is actually kind of ok. Sure, the lyrics repeat too much, but Draiman's vocal performance works really well here. I dig these lower, more subtle vocals, and it's a rare moment where he's not overselling the track. Still though, it overstays its welcome and while well-intended, it falls flat and becomes a bit forgettable.
So yeah, this is not an evolution for Disturbed. They're just tackling ground they've already tackled before, and under doing it at that. It's definitely Disturbed, but it's not them at their best; It's them at their most uninspired, bland, and grading. This album was a slog to get through and one of my least favorites of the entire year, and arguably the least inspired one I've heard this year. At least with an album like Five Finger Death Punch's And Justice For None was at least somewhat inspired in points. That album was terrible and whiny and immature , but they had inspiration. Not particularly good inspiration, but it was definitely there (Don't listen to that album, either; It's awful). Here, Disturbed was on autopilot and just wanted to pay their bills. I think you can say I do not recommend this. Maybe check out Saviour of Nothing, but ignore the rest.
RATING: D
Anyway, since I can't recommend this to any of you, here are some albums I do recommend. I'm thinking about making this a thing where I talk about at least a couple albums that are worth your time at the end of every month. We'll see, though. Maybe I'll throw in a movie or two if I see something I think is really good. So, while the month isn't over, I feel there is enough great material to do this already, so let's get going!
Here are 4 albums I feel are worth listening to in October (In no particular order):
Estrons, You Say I'm Too Much, I Say You're No Enough
A great punk-inspired pop record (This isn't anything like Blink 182 or typical pop-punk), this Welsh band pulled off an impressive debut. This is a short, fun punch of raw intensity and stellar hooks. Every song is solid and while some of the instrumentation sounds a bit too similar in points, this band has character and knows how to write a great jam. Probably my favorite of the month so far.
Essential Tracks: Lilac, Strangers, Body, Cameras, Jesus...
Ice Nine Kills, The Silver Scream
A metal-core album with songs inspired by horror movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street (The American Nightmare), Friday The 13th (Thank God It's Friday), and Jaws (Rocking The Boat), this album is cheesy as I'll get out, but it's fun and energized. It's also a great record to listen to this Halloween.
Essential Tracks: The American Nightmare, Thank God It's Friday, Rocking The Boat, The World In My Hands, IT Is The End
Greta Van Fleet, Anthem of the Peaceful Army
For those looking for some 70s throwback rock music, this is for you. While Greta sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin, they still are a solid group and talented in their own right. From the fun radio single When The Curtain Falls and the stellar slow burn opener Age of Man, there's quite a bit of good music on here. There are a few tracks I skip on the re-listen, but it's still absolutely worth checking out.
Essential Tracks: Age of Man, When The Curtain Falls, Watching Over, Anthem
High On Fire, Electric Messiah
I admittedly need to listen to this one a couple more times, since it is pretty long (56, almost 57 minutes) but this is a great stoner metal record with killer composition and inspiration from Motorhead. It's a bit lengthy for my taste, but it's a very well made record.
Essential Tracks: Spewn From The Earth, Sanctioned Annihilation, Freebooter, Drowning Dog (Like I said, I haven't heard the album enough. These track picks could change.)
Fight The Fury, Still Breathing
Formed by Skillet front man John Cooper, this is an outlet to get out his metal side. This EP is basically Collide-era Skillet with some more modern metal influence and slightly cleaner production. However, the songs are pretty strong for the most part and it's a fun listen, especially if you like Skillet.
Essential Tracks: My Demons, Still Burning
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