Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Do you Believe?
As much strong, and innovative, and talented as they've been ever before. That's what they are with their Believe. Bad news for those who expected a weaker effort, and perfect ones for the fans and other rock lovers.The smashing hits like Prayer, Awaken, Believe, and Breathe build the base of the new album, while the rest of the material seriously add to the picture and make the whole cd sound beautiful and really impressive. Liberate is a good chance to remind yourself of the Disturbed previous album: the same style, rhythm and vocals, while Darkness is an absolute news from the band: as much tender and soft ballad could be hardly expected from these guys. In brief, the tunes on the cd are highly varied, still bearing the same signature style of the dear old Disturbed, which would definitely please the oldest fans and with no doubt attract the attention of any new and inexperienced listener. The impressive heaviness, the memorable melodies, and the unique vocals are all here. So is the guys' indisputable and strong talent. One of the best of the recent releases.
Rating:  - Not as horrible as I had thought ...
I expected this album to be pretty bad. This nu-metal stuff was fun for a while but I got really sick of it after about 9 months. I like The Sickness a lot and still listen to it a few times a month. Considering the efforts their peers have put out for sophomore releases I wasn't looking forward to hearing this at all. But after a few listens its really not as bad as I thought. You can't expect a lot of technical wizardry in this genre, but the songs are well structured. You know is Disturbed when you first listen, so thats always good. The singer has changed his style a bit not as many "ahh ahhhs" its seems as was showcased in the song "The Sickness". He seems to have changed his singing range too which complements the new songs. Some of the songs on Believe sound a little too much alike for my tastes, but they don't seem to be complete rip offs. Nothing really stood out the first few listens for me. If you have heard the single "Prayer" on the radio you'll like the rest of the songs more than likely. One shocker was the ballad "Darkness" .. acoustic and vocals with hints of piano and strings fairly interesting. A few songs that I have been drawn to more than others have been "Breathe" b/c of the cool lil groove on the intro, "Devour" for its almost hair bandish feel on the chorus, and "Liberate" b/c thats a fun sing-along song. If you like The Sickness you'll like this ... its a little different than its precurser, but thats just the growth of the band. So I gave it 3 stars probably closer to 3.5 because its nothing spectacular I like The Sickness much better and probably b/c I'm pretty tired of the nu-metal. But its not bad for what it is ... if your a fan pick it up.
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.
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