Disturbed – Immortalized

When news broke earlier this year of the return of Chicago metallers Disturbed, it was greeted with excitement and anticipation. Having gone on hiatus in 2011 amid rumours of internal conflicts and after a series of less-than-acclaimed live performances, the band secretly reformed in the January of 2014 and began to write Immortalized, their sixth record out on Friday via Reprise Records; their first since 2010’s Asylum and produced by Kevin Churko (Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Five Finger Death Punch).

If you were hoping for new things and a significant departure from their usual sound given the band members’ involvement in other projects over their hiatus period, then you might want to sit back down. Put simply, Disturbed in 2015 are, well, Disturbed. Immortalized follows the same, well-trodden formula that they have continued to use over the past fifteen years and you’re not going to find any real curveballs on this album save for one, which we’ll get to later. Until then, it’s business as usual; a great big slab of fist-pumping, hulk-smashing metal that will do little to deter the die-hards and little to entice anyone who previously didn’t appreciate them. Not that they don’t do it well, of course; the fire they had inside of them still rages and tracks like ‘Open Your Eyes’ and ‘What Are You Waiting For’ ignite that spark once more, whilst the title track and lead single ‘The Vengeful One’ contain the big, sing-a-long choruses that Disturbed write so well. The aforementioned curveball comes in the guise of a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’; piano-led and certainly softer than Disturbed have ever sounded, it’s not the greatest cover in the world but it certainly gives us something a little unusual.

Disturbed have always had a knack for splitting opinions – mainly because they’ve never quite managed to shake off the nu-metal tag they were laden with upon the release of their 2000 debut The Sickness. They’re certainly no closer to doing that here. Immortalized may pick up where Asylum left off, but it could have been so much more.

Band lineup

David Draiman – vocals
Dan Donegan – guitar
John Moyer – bass, backing vocals
Mike Wengren – drums

Track listing

The Eye of the Storm
Immortalized
The Vengeful One
Open Your Eyes
The Light
What Are You Waiting For?
You’re Mine
Who
Save Our Last Goodbye
Fire It Up
The Sound of Silence
Never Wrong
Who Taught You How To Hate

Links

http://www.disturbed1.com
http://www.facebook.com/Disturbed
http://www.twitter.com/Disturbed