Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists (CD)

All Music Guide

It started in 2000 with "Down with the Sickness." Disturbed's thick, rhythmic take on altmetal was perfect music for stalking bloody zombies, and vocalist David Draiman's jawsnapping Pavlovian grunts made the trigger fingers of firstperson shooters itch. There were threads of other groups in the sound Pantera's wrenching power, Slipknot, the illlighted parlor games of Tool. But Disturbed held their own from the start, so get up, come on get down with the sickness. If 2002's Believe downplayed Draiman's guttural responses a little, that tact's long gone for 2005's Ten Thousand Fists. From Todd McFarlane's evocative wronged misfits artwork Suicide Girls stand fists upraised next to ghoulish fiends and disenfranchised truckers to the rousing staccato of the title track and the "Sickness" rewrite "Stricken," Disturbed solidify their stance as the black knights of gamingconsole rock. Creepy electronics slither behind Dan Donegan's guitar, and he mostly forsakes soloing to concentrate on ...the visceral groove. When he's not hacking like a chainedup pit bull, Draiman emotes from the valley of reverb (that's next to the valley of death), and his moments of epic roar make the songs' choppier parts more effective. Now, "Overburdened" takes the epic stuff a little too far. Draiman starts off the song in narration, muttering "Fate is so unkind" like a monster who's been given the power to feel. But even in its swirling pretentiousness, you can't deny his intensity. Luckily the majority of Fists sticks to midtempo punishers that pound back angergritted teeth and no anesthesia. (Remember, Disturbed's tours are underwritten by Jägermeister, the black licorice firewater that punches Saturday night in the face.) "Deify" rails against blind devotion to political leaders and "Sons of Plunder" stalks at a faster, more aggressive faster heart rate, while "Decadence" and "Sacred Lie" drop into the rhythmic grip that by mid to late album is almost comfortable in its gloomy thump. (Disturbed's illadvised cover of Genesis' "Land of Confusion"? No comment.) Ten Thousand Fists does start to sound the same after a while. But those bloody zombies aren't going to stop pouring though the doorway, so it's a good thing it has at least 12 burly altmetal rockers. Fire - Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide Read more Less