### Disturbed: Asylum

#### 15/10/10 || cadenz

Well, well, well… another band everybody loves to hate. Disturbed from Chicago, Illinois still defy Teh Metülhedd Hate and release another album. Well, I would too, if I’d sold over 11 million albums worldwide. Then again, I’d fuck for money too. Porn label executives, feel free to e-mail me.

I’ve always thought of Disturbed as a pussified bastard child of Pantera and Iced Earth, with a vocalist whose voice implies constipation deluxe. The musical foundation is laid by jagged and rhythmic guitar riffs with bluesy harmonies in mostly tempos in the range of mid. And then we have David Draiman instead of Anselmo/Barlow. An upgrade? Ha. Haha. HAHAHA. AAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHH!! Ok.

Nothing about “Asylum” is different from the songs I’ve heard from Disturbed’s previous records, so if you’ve played Rock Band or listened to any rock radio station during the last five years you know what it sounds like. The atmosphere is going for something of an oppressive and energetic kind, failing as the song-writing and arrangements are heart-breakingly uninteresting and all too rounded at the edges.

The execution is better, everything is tightly played and the guitar solos rock. During some moments, I even lose the urge to kill the ADHD-inspired/afflicted droner behind the mic. The production is as you can expect from a modern US metal (?) band with a massive budget – clear, crispy, professional, somewhat punchy but lacking any kind of identity.

Even though I like a couple of songs (“Another Way to Die” and “Crucified”), what drags “Asylum” down is the conformity of the tracks and the almost complete lack of hooks. I couldn’t hum a single riff, melody or phrase of any song out of memory if my life so depended on it, including the mentioned tracks that I like. And for the love of penis, leave the U2 classics along you morons. The guitarists don’t even seem to have the ears to discern major from minor. Listen to your singer, faggots. I mean, what the fuck?!

So in conclusion: excluding very few highlights this is a most mediocre and not-hot banana. No one will want to eat it, so you better toss it out before it makes a rotten impression on the other ones in your fruit basket, you fruit. Or better yet – don’t buy it in the first place.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Reprise
- Website: www.disturbed1.com
- Band
- David Draiman: vocals
- Dan Dronegan: guitars
- John Moyer: bass
- Mike Wengren: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Remnants
- 02. Asylum
- 03. The Infection
- 04. Warrior
- 05. Another Way to Die
- 06. Never Again
- 07. The Animal
- 08. Crucified
- 09. Serpentine
- 10. My Child
- 11. Sacrifice
- 12. Innocence
- 13. ISHFWILF (U2 cover)