Disturbed’s latest: A bland and forgettable hard rock melodrama

American metal band Disturbed’s seventh studio album, Evolution, is a disturbingly weak effort after a three-year wait since the more superior ‘Immortalized’ of 2015.
While the album, released in October, does pack energy with the heavier tracks displaying some of the fervour of the old Disturbed, overall this is just a diluted, commercialised offering.
Emerging from the shadows of the nu-metal movement, Disturbed rose to prominence with their 2000 debut album The Sickness, a record of hardness, aggression and attitude where they rode the tides of the nu-metal wave. Today, they are one of the few bands from that time who have not only managed to stick around, but also stay relevant.
Partly the reason for this is that they were never truly a nu-metal band as their songs always packed a bigger sensibility to traditional heavy metal rather than the watered-down diluted edge lord music that was nu- metal, characterised by rapping, hip-hop grooves and angst rather than any real aggression. By the time of their third album, Ten Thousand Fists, they discarded any similarities they had to that style of music.
As of 2018, they are one of the most famous and successful post-2000 metal bands, and have got themselves a massive, dedicated fan base which they have rightfully earned. With some real monster tracks in their catalogue such as The Sickness, Stricken, Indestructible and Prayer, the band’s music always packed a hard metal edge while simultaneously packing a more delicate grooving melodic hard rock sensibility which makes them a great entry-level band for those who are not yet exposed to heavy music. All this, though, can be said for their earlier stuff.
Unfortunately, however, it would seem that Disturbed has hit a bit of a low point musically this year as Evolution seems to be a very different animal from either Ten Thousand Fists, Indestructible or Asylum. (IANS)