Review: Disturbed - Asylum (2010)

Artist: Disturbed

Album: Asylum

Genre: Heavy Metal

Released: August 2010

Album length: 52:54/13 tracks

Background

Disturbed was formed in Chicago in 1994. Three of the founding members were in another band at the time, and auditioned for a vocalist. This is where they found David Draiman, and they became Disturbed after a name change. Disturbed deal with heavy topics in their music, with everything from war to miscarriage. Asylum is their fifth studio album.

The track breakdown

On repeat: Remnants, The Infection, Warrior, The Animal

Skip it: Never Again, My Child, Innocence

For the gym (150+ BPM): The Infection, The Animal, Serpentine

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Remnants (Prelude) is an instrumental that was originally part of Asylum. It would have made the track too long for the radio, so the two were separated. Remnants is one of my favourite instrumentals, and I absolutely love the way it starts off the album. Donegan's guitar is stunning. It contrasts so well with Asylum, which it naturally perfectly merges into.

Asylum starts off with Draiman's demonic laughter and growls. The first line is "no remnants were ever found of it", a delightful reference to the first track. This is one of their heaviest tracks, there's a real pounding drumbeat, and the song almost has a thrash metal feel to it in parts. It's a powerful track with great lyrics.

Draiman introduces some melodic vocals into the track after plenty of growling. It doesn't have a solo as Remnants was supposed to be part of it, but I wish it did - I'm somewhat greedy when it comes to Donegan's solos.

The Infection is a stunning track. It starts off heavy, giving way to Draiman's gorgeous, passionate vocals on this song. It's a song about the depression that can follow a breakup, referring to it as "the beast that's been eating me alive".

Donegan shows off with a beautiful, lengthy guitar solo that fits the song perfectly. I love how you get to see more of his skill on this album, unlike their earliest releases. The Infection is one of my favourites from Asylum.

Warrior is a song that's just made for a gym playlist. It's a similar vibe to Indestructible in terms of lyrics, but it's not as guitar-heavy. It's got Wengren's great drumming throughout and is generally a solid track.

Another Way to Die was the first single released from Asylum. It's about global warming. It starts off with a dark feeling, slowly building up the guitar. The song kicks in with awesome, heavy metal at a minute in, with impassioned, angry lyrics about how the planet is being destroyed because of greed. It's a musically and lyrically heavy song.

The guitar solo is a slow burn which contrasts well. The last chorus is stunning, with somehow even more passion from Draiman. Great track.

Never Again is about the Holocaust; Draiman is Jewish. It's a passionate song as can be expected with the subject matter and Draiman's roots. I find the intro vocals to be too harsh, but I appreciate the message they're delivering with this track. I love the guitar in this; the solo is stunning. I've personally played this song too much, and I don't enjoy it as much now.

Now that I've been torn apart , will there be an end to this?

Will there finally be release? Will I finally rest in peace?

I'm determined to believe my prayers will be received

The Animal is an awesome track. It's about a werewolf. The drumming that kicks this song off alongside Draiman's growls is really cool. I love his voice in this; he switches between melodic and harsh vocals, and it sounds great. The drumming and guitar throughout, including the solo, is excellent. The outro wraps the song up perfectly.

Crucified is a dark song. It's emotionally heavy, with the instruments perfectly matching that feeling. Draiman's vocals on this are incredible, with a full verse being growled, truly expressing the pain he feels. It's a track that leaves you feeling something afterwards.

Serpentine is another heavy, dark song. It's quite a lot having Crucified and Serpentine one after the other. Draiman's melodic vocals contrast wonderfully with the heavy intro. You can hear Moyer's bass coming through on this track, which I love.

It's lyrically similar to their other songs in that it's really heavy, which Draiman's vocals capture perfectly. There's a verse that's softly growled, which adds so much to the track. I'd have loved a proper guitar solo on this track, rather than just an instrumental break. Intense, but great track.

My Child is a song that I always skip, and have probably only listened to four times in 10 years. It starts off with a baby crying, which immediately turns me off. It's about a miscarriage, so naturally it's a heavy track.

Draiman switches between angry growling and passionate melodic vocals. The drumming is fantastic. It's a well-constructed song, but the intro ruins it for me personally. I really dislike audio tracks inserted in music. It ends with a flatline tone, truly pushing that painful message home.

Sacrifice sounds too much like Crucified to me, but without the depth. However, there's a really nice riff before the chorus. I like the solo and the outro too. It's too similar sounding to Crucified for me to enjoy it, maybe if it was on another album.

Innocence is one I've played too much to appreciate. It's so well-written; it's about corrupt attorneys defending evil criminals, and justice failing, and refers to the "rabid media". It's a truly thought-provoking song. There's an absolutely awesome bit of drumming in there from Wengren too. The song drones a little bit for me though, and I think that's why I don't really like it as much now.

Ishfwilf (hidden track) is a cover of the U2 song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. It starts around 1:35 in, and I actually really like this cover. Largely because it's pretty hilarious to listen to Draiman to sing sweet nothings about running through fields "only to be with you" and having "kissed honey lips" instead of his usual dark topics.

However, it's musically excellent too. The drumming is great, the riffs are delightful and there's even a growl in there before the stunning solo. I've listened to this more than I care to admit (ditto with Living After Midnight, another bonus track from the deluxe edition of Asylum).

In summary

Asylum is a dark, heavy album. If you listen through the whole thing with Ishfwilf to finish, you aren't really left with that feeling. However, individual songs like Asylum, Crucified and Serpentine leave you with a lasting feeling that you've just listened to something emotionally heavy, and slightly exhausting.

I enjoy the variety in Draiman's vocals on this album; there's plenty of growling, vocalisations and beautiful melodic parts, like in The Infection, which has all of the above. The drumming from Wengren is stellar as always, and I like Moyer's bass that peeks through on certain songs, like on Serpentine.

The guitar work from Donegan is really good on certain tracks, but I wish it was more like Indestructible where there's a stunning guitar solo on nearly every song. I think the best solo is probably on The Infection, which doesn't really compare to the likes of The Night unfortunately. (Remnants is beautiful though, but it is an instrumental, so it should have great guitar!)

Overall, I'd recommend Asylum, but only if you're ready to be faced with dark subjects, delivered in an equally dark manner. I'd recommend the first three tracks (Remnants, Asylum and The Infection) to give you a feel for the album, then Serpentine if you're feeling brave.

It's hard to believe the album is 10 years old, but it's still their best work in a decade.

Album rating: 8/10