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Nothing Disturbing About Disturbed

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)

10 Overburdened – Ten Thousand Fists

9 Ten Thousand Fists- Ten Thousand Fists

8 Pain Redefined – Ten Thousand Fists

7 Stupify – The Sickness

6 Down With the Sickness – The Sickness

5 Believe – Believe

4 Indestructible – Indestructible

3 Prayer – Believe

2 Stricken – Ten Thousand Fists

1 The Game – The Sickness

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Volunteering Again

After years of taking a break, I’m doing volunteer work again. This time it’s with my neighbor, Norma Nashed, who is the president of Reaching Hearts for Kids. She runs a charity which provides children in desperate need with the basic essentials necessary for them to live healthy lives. I’m currently helping her with her website, but hope to soon get involved with other things as well.

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Album Review: Iron Maiden’s The Final Frontier

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 15th studio album, but The Final Frontier is relevant and well worth the wait.

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I'm Failing Math Class

Seriously. I am failing math class. The only thing is, I haven’t been in a math class since 1995.

Okay, to be more clear, I have a recurring dream that I am failing math class. It happens, I don’t know, a few times a year, but often enough to make me wonder: Why, of all things, do I keep dreaming about this?

The dream is of me almost always in high school or college (but everything is ‘different’ – you know how dreams are). And at some point in the dream I realize that I haven’t been to math class recently and I’m falling behind, and may not even remember where the classroom is and might get lost trying to find it (sometimes I make it only to realize I have no idea what’s going on). Other silly things happen in the dream, usually different and weird things, but that’s not unusual.

I have no bad memories of math class and I can’t for the life of me understand why I dream of this, but it happens. I suppose there are worse things. You know, like failing psychology.

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The Real Losers in Reality TV

I’ll admit that I watch the Jersey Shore. The characters have easily passed my test of what’s worth watching. I also watch Pawn Stars, mainly to learn about the business, but also because of the characters.

To think that these people became famous for being nothing more than themselves. And while I believe that most reality television isn’t worth watching at all, I must applaud the formula that television has found in the past decade and exploited.

There once was a time when every season, the networks had to take chances on many forgettable sitcoms and dramas, which only really helped those involved find work for a while. And while not every reality show is a success, it’s certainly less of a gamble than putting up yet another poorly-scripted sitcom that no one watches. So now that it’s reality television first, old-school writers and actors lose out, because they’re getting fewer and fewer chances to make an impression.

Diminishing the chances for writers and talented actors may keep more failed sitcoms off the tube, but it’ll prevent some very talented people from ever catching the break that they need to provide us some actual entertainment. If Friends, Seinfeld, or Cheers were pitched to the network these days, chances are that two of them wouldn’t even make the cut.

At the same time, it’s great that ‘ordinary people’ can find fame on reality TV, which isn’t easily done in other fields, like sports and politics. The question is, how long will it last before these reality shows become more difficult and expensive to produce, and the networks suddenly find themselves accepting pitches from a new batch of talented writers?

Hopefully soon, because in the end, talent wins. Sorry, Snooki.