Average Rating: 
Rating:  - MUCH better than The Sickness....
Hey wait! Disturbed are some of the masters of disharmony! How the hell did they turn up a disc so melodic, so arty, and almost beautiful? Who knows, but the lead single, "Prayer," is so infectious and melodic that it gives Disturbed a newer, far better sound than their debut, The Sickness. The Sickness, which was a great disc in it's own right, gave a raging voice and disharmonic sound to the band, and made them seem like Dimmu Borgir's heirs as the masters of disharmony/melody. But then, after two years of waiting and waiting, they have released this masterpiece, and completely reinvented themselves. David Draiman really has a great voice beyond anger and aggression. His newly found vocal range exhibits some of his angry growls, odd grunts, and screams from The Sickness, but also delves into a newfound, more melodic, and far better singing zone. Guitarist Dan Donegan releases brutal, short, and relitavely simple 3-4 chord riffs that go along just fine with the vocals, while bassist Fuzz and drummer Mike Wengren rock the earth like a pair of rampaging barbarians at a castle door or something like that. This album also shows the band following a technique similar to that of Korn, who was a partial influence on this band. That technique is to almost reinvent themselves after the last album, while not distancing themselves too far away from what makes them Disturbed. They really knew what to do here, and came out with a great record, so buy this. Not anyone, not even the pop fans I have asked, did not like this album. It's infectious self is an awesome disc, and is MUCH better than the Sickness.
Rating: - Disturbed grow, improve their sound with "Believe"
Due to their commercial popularity, Disturbed can't help but be classified as a "nu-metal", mainstream band. Some people have a problem with Disturbed and their popularity, as any successful metal band these days is categorized as a sell-out. Call them whatever you want, but I say "Who cares?" When a band releases a CD as good as "Believe", the music speaks for itself. While "The Sickness" DID have a more mainstream sound, it still was a decent metal CD. My real problem with that release was it's lack of diversity and the way that the songs really lost strength towards the end of the album. In this respect, "Believe" is the opposite of "The Sickness". Upon 1st listen to this CD, one will have no doubt that he/she is hearing the band Disturbed -- the traditional vocals and guitar of the band are well represented on this album. While retaining their signature style, Disturbed have greatly increased their musical range, voacally and (more noticably) musically. The songs, especially the later ones, are heavier and use more aggressive guitar and drum techniques. The CD starts with the excellent song "Prayer" and then evolves into a string of heavy, riff-driven tracks until the gentle, accoustic closer "Darkness". In between, there are several very good straight-forward metal tracks such as "Believe", "Intoxication", "Mistress", and "Devour". Most importantly, this is a complete CD -- a very solid listen from beginning to end. "Believe" is an excellent album that metal fans should be eager to hear. With this CD, Disturbed have definately set themselves apart from the rest of the pack.
Rating: - Another great work by Disturbed
Disturbed makes their second appearance on the shelves with a much improved sound and more personal CD. As I listened to "The Sickness" and "Believe" back to back, I noticed several changes in the sound of Disturbed. First, the sound of the band as a whole is more refined and much cleaner. There seems to be a concentration of equal balance on both the treble and bass sides of the scale. The control that the band seemed to lack on the first release is no longer apparent. Draiman's vocal range is also vastly improved on the new album. He reaches more highs over a majority of the album, and shows a much softer sound on the album's final track, "Darkness". Finally, the CD seems to have a much more personal feel to it. It actually sounds like a band changed their style after the unfortunate events of a year ago. This release has the same high charged sound that we Disturbed fans would come to expect, but the overall quality of music on this album is much cleaner and, technically, way better than the first. I do hope that Disturbed ends up on that very short list of groups that, seemingly, cannot make a poor record. Keep it up, guys. This one's a keeper.
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