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Another bloody great show from Disturbed on their fifth studio album, Asylum. Unlike other metal albums released this year, like Korn’s Remember Who You Are and Iron Maiden’s The Final Frontier — which take a few spins to digest and enjoy — Asylum has music you instantly recognize and devour. Disturbed knows their sound and doesn’t tread too far from anything other than razor-sharp chords and David Draiman’s punch-you-in-your-face lyrics. But the album doesn’t start out like you’d expect. “Remnants” is an instrumental, not at all Disturbed-like, but it acts as a great preamble to the title song, “Asylum.” As Draiman barks “Release me!” we know Disturbed is back and ready to fight (or rock, whatever).

One of the best songs here is “Never Again,” where Draiman embraces his Jewish roots. It’s about the Holocaust, with lyrics that might as well be spitting into the face of Iran and other enemies of Israel:

You dare to tell me that there never was a Holocaust
You think that history will leave the memory lost
Another Hitler using fear to control
You’re gonna fail this time for the world to see

Now only if we can get the Israeli army to listen to this music instead of Kei$ha.

Another treat is “Innocence,” a typical Disturbed hit which will have you banging your head in seconds. The hidden track comes as a pleasant surprise: A cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” It isn’t for everyone, but considering the show they just put on, Disturbed deserves to cover another classic, as they create new ones themselves. Disturbed is five-for-five in their decade of storming the stages. Here’s hoping for many more.

Disturbed has been punching the mainstream in the face for a decade now, with kick-you-in-the-nuts albums like The Sickness, Believe, Ten Thousand Fists and Indestructible. And now they’ve got a fist-full with their latest, Asylum. We’ve already been treated to free downloads of the songs “Never Again” and “Asylum” from the new album, but there are ten more tracks on Asylum that are likely to rock just as hard. Considering each new album has outdone the previous, Asylum is a sure bet to help Disturbed keep the crown of being the most kick-ass band of the new century.

But before we digest Asylum, let’s select the Top Ten Disturbed Songs of the past decade. Considering how much I and others love this band, I’ll admit that the order of this list can be swapped around without much argument. So how am I ordering these? By the number of times I’ve listened, of course!

Top Ten Disturbed Songs (of the 00s)

8 Pain Redefined – Ten Thousand Fists

7 Stupify – The Sickness

2 Stricken – Ten Thousand Fists

Iron Maiden has been on a role since Bruce Dickenson’s return more than a decade ago, releasing a trio of excellent albums that have lured a new generation of fans. The Final Frontier, their latest – and hopefully not last – album since Maiden 2.0 launched certainly adds to their legacy of being arguably the greatest metal band ever, despite treading the same ground they’ve been before.

The album opens with “Satellite 15,” one of the most intense, momentum-building intros Iron Maiden has conducted in years, before changing up midway through to the album’s signature song and space anthem, “The Final Frontier.” Next up is “El Dorado,” a song released months ago and played on Maiden’s 2010 world tour, which is another to add to the Iron Maiden favorites playlist. While these are the better songs on the album, and obviously released early to build more buzz, the rest of the album has gems as well. And within many of those songs are even better guitar hooks that sweeten things up like an instrumental chorus.

If there’s anything to criticize, it’s Maiden can be a bit predictable when it comes to music that sounds too much like their other music, particularly “When the Wild Wind Blows” – a great song for sure – but didn’t we hear it on their album from four years ago? And like their last album, A Matter of Life and Death, Maiden focuses on writing long, epic songs with Maiden-esque titles such as “The Alchemist,” “Isle of Avalon,” and “The Talisman” that tend to bleed together when listening to the whole album from start to finish. But should we be critical of that? No. Just enjoy it.

Maiden as of late also tends to write music that listeners might not fully ingest upon their first listen. While this can go for just about anyone, it’s easy to go from “Huh?” to “Awesome!” once these songs start sticking out on their own and the listener separates the more creative aspects of the music from the routine.

Iron Maiden didn’t necessarily break new ground with their 15^th studio album, but The Final Frontier is relevant and well worth the wait.