Disturbed Sickness CD

Disturbed's debut found the band crawling through the mire of contemporary metal staples for a cohesive direction. The staccato primal scream that became the band's trademark helped break the single, "Down With The Sickness," in tandem with the song's Tool-meets-Pantera rhythmic complexities. From the rap metal grooves of "Voices" and "Stupify" to the neo-reggae vibe of "Violence Fetish," THE SICKNESS was a musical forecast of things to come for Disturbed. "Numb" found the band making a foray into more melodic and progressive territory, an approach they would further develop with 2002's BELIEVE.

Alternative metal exploded during the late '90s thanks to groundwork laid by groups like Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, and Rage Against the Machine, and as record companies scrambled to find the next Korn or Limp Bizkit, the genre became clogged with legions of similar-sounding bands, all trying to find just the right blend of low, heavy guitar riffs, rap-metal, industrial, and intense aggression. Often, those attempts could result in sounds that seemed too calculated and self-consciously cobbled together to feel natural; plus, inventive production was frequently employed to disguise many songs' lack of memorable hooks. The Sickness, the first entry by Chicago's Disturbed in the alt-metal sweepstakes, thankfully avoids those common pitfalls, turning in a mixture of raw, gut-level metal and industrial/electronic backing that feels logical and integrated. Although the music has its fair share of pummeling aggression and accompanying shouted vocals, Disturbed also isn't afraid to employ melody, and they're actually quite good at it when they choose that direction. Occasional forays into rap-metal aren't really the group's strong suit and can feel a bit awkward, although they do have a certain rhythmic acuity missing from some similar bands' attempts. But even if it has a few less-than-compelling moments, The Sickness overall comes off as the work of a band who really doesn't have far to go to achieve total control of its sound and compositional skills, and that makes it a terrific debut album. [Sickness was also released in a "clean" edition, containing no profanities or vulgarities.] ~ Steve Huey

Recorded at Groovemaster Studios, Chicago, Illinois.

Personnel: Dan Donegan (guitar).

Audio Mixer: Andy Wallace.

Recording information: Soundtrack Studios.

Photographer: P.R. Brown.

Disturbed: David Draiman (vocals); Dan Donegan (guitar); Fuzz (bass); Mike Wengren (drums, programming).

Additional personnel: Frank De Lamora, Enrique Santiago (programming).

Rolling Stone (9/28/00, pp.53-4) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Follows the same trajectory of their 1st album [going from] tranquil emotional tenderness into fuzzed-out, white-knuckle anger....with banging beats..."
Alternative Press (5/00, pp.84-5) - 4 out of 5 - "...A resuscitating jolt of unwholesome tweaked soundage....This satisfying slab is just anthem after anthem of maximum decibels that -miraculously - never gets samey..."
CMJ (1/08/01, p.26) - Included in CMJ's "Best Loud Rock Albums" of 2000.
CMJ (3/27/00, p.28) - "...catchy, addictive, and ultimately forward-thinking...leaving a permanent impression..."
Melody Maker (7/4/00, p.65) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Rather entertaining in a turn-off-brain cheap-thrills kinda way....Absolute unreasoning misanthropy of a frankly adolescent nature."