DISTURBED. You may have heard of 'em. You know, that singer who grunts like a primate through most of the songs on their first disc Down With the Sickness?...Yeah, them. They just released their second disc, and it's called Believe. They've already won MAJOR brownie points with me for refusing to tone down their video for first singe "Prayer" so MTV would play it (if you have the Enhanced CD version of Believe, you'll get to watch it)...and to be quite honest, I don't know what all the fuss is about.
That being said, this is a pretty standard release for a band who probably spent several years writing their first disc (which was loaded with memorable tunes), and then ran right into the studio to do disc #2 in a matter of months. While there aren't many bands who adhere to the rigorous tour-record-tour-record-tour-record philosophy in 2002, about 20 or 25 years ago, this was considered the norm. Granted, every rock cliche in the book hadn't been beat to death 20 or 25 years ago (like they have been now), but that's beside the point. Disturbed banged this disc out fairly quickly, and considering that, there's a fair amount of solid material on Believe.
"Prayer", the video for which was banned from MTV, is growing on me. The song is about dealing with adversity and standing up to it despite how miserable and shitty your life is. Nice and cheery, right? Yeah, I know. "Liberate" is another great track, nd you can picture a crowd going crazy live every time singer David Draiman says "Motherfucker".
Some of the deeper cuts in the disc aren't as strong, but track 11 "Devour" has a very melodic, almost haunting melody during the hook. Rounding out the disc is "Darkness", an acoustic guitar and piano driven song in which Draiman gets to flex his vocal chords in a softer setting.
While Distrubed aren't going to blow away what they did on Sickness, they certainly deliver a punch with their sophomore effort.
