Disturbed Believe (not limited edition) CD

. Rock/Metal 2nd Release Feat. "Prayer"



This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
This Limited version of BELIEVE is packaged in a leather-bound book, accompanied by a companion bonus DVD disc.
Disturbed: David Draiman (vocals); Dan Donegan (guitar, keyboards); Fuzz (bass); Mike Wengren (drums).
Additional personnel: Alison Chesley (cello).
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Disturbed: David Draiman (vocals); Dan Donegan (guitar, keyboards); Fuzz (bass); Mike Wengren (drums).
Additional personnel: Alison Chesley (cello).
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
From the moment the jagged riffing of "Prayer" begins to pour out of the speakers, one thing is quite clear: Disturbed has learned to cut the fat. Their first record was a massively heavy affair, but at times the music was mired in somewhat needless passages. But on Believe, Disturbed takes the sort of jump that their heroes in Soundgarden and Pantera made after their respective breakthrough records. No longer depending on the choppy tempos and percussion-based riffing of the past, guitarist Dan Donegan has made great strides in expanding their sound to include more varied guitar work all around. Take the title track, which moves from a brutal chug to a sweeping chorus that suddenly stops in its tracks and turns into a winding riff that recalls the work of vintage James Hetfield. It's great stuff, the kind of audible theatrics that makes good heavy metal so visceral and potent. Draiman makes an appreciated and notable effort to stretch his vocal boundaries as well, and his performance is one of the most improved of the band. His clear wail is a more emotive vessel this time, while his gravel-throated bark still adds the trademark harsh element to the sound. All of this adds up to a deeply melodic, at times even beautiful treatment of the genre; the kind of record that makes a metalhead proud to be a metalhead. Highlights include the epic and slightly tragic "Remember," Draiman's savage yammering on "Liberate," the dynamic flip-flopping between razor-sharp aggression and spiritual contemplation on "Rise," and the understated power ballad "Darkness." Certain songs do sound a bit too much like other bands for their own good, but this is out of hero worship more than a lack of originality and doesn't affect anything significantly. In the end, Believe is a satisfying slab of aggression from front to back, filled with enough muscle and brains to render the minor faults irrelevant. Where many of the bands that came out at the same time have proved to be one-album wonders, Believe is proof positive that Disturbed is a force of metal that's here to stay. ~ Bradley Torreano
Taking the essence of classic metal and making it contemporary is a feat that Disturbed has accomplished with staggering results. While the band's debut only toyed with melodicism (much of THE SICKNESS was derivative of the growing stable of rap metal bands), BELIEVE is Disturbed's musical arrival. Razor-sharp syncopated riffing is melded with rock radio-friendly melodic vocals, making a jaw-dropping first impression with album-opener "Prayer." The track has the requisite elements to make it an instant metal classic. Disturbed's influences peek through their music, but not in a negative sense; it's clear that Pantera, Metallica and Queensryche were among the artists this band cut their teeth on.
"Intoxication" revisits the vocal style that broke the band with "Down With The Sickness," but vocalist David Draiman puts much more effort into a vocal approach that doesn't rely on gimmicks, especially with the big chorus in "Remember" and the splayed vocal harmonies in "Believe." Making the leap into rock balladry, the album closes on an emotional note with "Darkness." With BELIEVE, Disturbed show themselves to be muRolling Stone (10/3/02, p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Revealing more of their 80s roots...BELIEVE represents a skillful variation on the melodrama-meets-mayhem formula that has been driving successful new metal..."
Entertainment Weekly (9/20/02, p.106) - "...No nu-metal sounds on this solid second album, just old-fashioned drum bombs and MASTER OF PUPPETS-era guitar fuzz..." - Rating: B-
CMJ (10/7/02) - "...BELIEVE is a rock record in its truest sense....Disturbed focuses on stellar, solid songwriting bolstered by thick grooves and Dan Donegan's razor sharp riffs..."