Category: Music

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.

Iron Maiden stormed into Bristow, Virginia on Tuesday for the third time in the past six years, and as usual, a large, rabid crowd followed. Times have changed a bit since those earlier concerts. Gone are the lighters in the darkened theater, which have been replaced with the audience holding up cell phone cameras. And we didn’t hear mainly the same songs that made them famous in the 80s – most of the show was focused on the albums from the last decade. When they asked who was attending their first Maiden concert, at least half the fans put their hands up. Not bad for a band that formed in 1975.

Bruce Dickinson, 51, wore a “Psych Ward” T-Shirt and was jumping around the stage like Dwyane Wade with a mic. A different stage-length flag of Maidenesque artwork appeared for each song. A ten-foot Eddie came lumbering out during Iron Maiden. The devil made an appearance during Number of the Beast. The stage was set up like some space-themed fun house.

They opened with Wicker Man, and also from Brave New World played the title track, Ghost of Navigator, and Blood Brothers – which Dickinson dedicated to Ronnie James Dio. With the new album, The Final Frontier, coming out in August, they delighted the crowd with the already released El Dorado. From Dance of Death, they played the title track, Wildest Dreams, and No More Lies. And from A Matter of Life and Death they played The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg and These Colours Don’t Run. Mixed in with the relatively new music, oddly enough, was Wrathchild (1981), a song that was older than more than half the audience. But I’m fairly certain they all recognized Fear of the Dark and Hallowed Be Thy Name, which they played later in the show.

The one odd thing that happened all night was that the closed with Running Free, ten minutes before 11 p.m., and seemed prime to close it off with Run to the Hills. The band left the stage and the lights remained off in the seating area, so most people stayed, cheering for more, but it didn’t happen. No matter. We’ve heard Run to the Hills a million times. But we have not seen a show like that one before.

May Iron Maiden be around for many more years to come.

Jonathan Davis used to have a knack for churning out a few popular, radio-friendly songs per album, while filling the rest of the record with raw, weird, demented and torturous sounds that only sound right playing over the speakers of a 19th century British insane asylum (with the occasional rap collaboration). With Korn III: Remember Who You Are, too much of the album contains those other songs that would normally provide padding for classics such as Freak on a Leash and Got the Life. But the best songs on this album fall well short of being the classics that we were hoping for.

The album starts off with the soft instrumental Uber-Time, which is typical of a Korn album but it ain’t a song, meaning we waited three years since Untitled for only ten new tracks. Oildale (Leave Me Alone) does get the album off to a good start, but songs like Fear Is A Place To Live and Lead the Parade you may have to listen to a few times to decide whether or not you like it. In several of these tracks, Korn often starts with a great riff – with perhaps even a decent chorus – but changes courses too often, leaving us in a whirlwind of heavy drumbeats and guitar-shredding strums as Davis makes monkey and lion noises. That’s the route Korn and producer Ross Robinson took this album, which is not for everyone.

The closest song Korn has to a hit on this album is Are You Ready to Live? which was released to the public a couple months before the album came out. And while Are You Ready to Live? isn’t a bad song (unless you find Jon’s crying to be humorous), it would at best be a late addition to a fan’s favorite Korn songs compilation.

For Korn fans who dislike the songs that get radio airplay, you may actually have a lot to like on this album. Jonathan’s voice is as flexible as ever, with his uncanny ability to roar and sing a lullaby in the same verse. This album reminds me of Life Is Peachy, without Twist, Chi, Good God and A.D.I.D.A.S.

For other Korn fans, the album still belongs in the collection, as they have hardly embarrassed themselves with Remember Who You Are. But word of warning: They’re not focused on replicating Thoughtless or Here to Stay. Instead, listen to the album a few times, then add it to the Korn library, and enjoy it only when one of the songs comes up on shuffle mode.