DISTURBED — Believe (review)

DISTURBED — Believe album cover Album · 2002 · Alternative Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Believe" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Chicago, Illinois based alternative metal act Disturbed. The album was released through Reprise Records in September 2002. "Believe" debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and the album turned out to be a major commercial success for the band selling close to 300.000 copies in the first week after it was released. By January 2003 the album had sold over 1 million copies.

...listening to the album it´s pretty obvious why "Believe" had such a major commercial potential. While it´s certainly heavy at places with chuggin` downtuned riffing and relatively aggressive vocals, the tracks are very easy to get into and appreciate. They are all build on a classic vers/chorus formula and seldom deviate from that form. Most are energetic (the closing ballad "Darkness" is the exception) and groove based but all without exception feature very melodic clean sung sing-along choruses. That´s exactly how you create a major commercial success and make sure that your songs are played on the radio and your videos are played on TV. Sing-along choruses is the key element to commercial success and "Believe" features plenty of those. Lead vocalist David Draiman has a voice that reminds me slightly of a raw sounding Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots and some of the melody lines also resemble melody lines written by that act, but Draiman and Disturbed are generally much heavier and more "metal" than the Californians.

The tracks are generally very vocal driven and the riffs and rythms often become backing to the vocals instead of delivering memorable riffs and sections. This too is probably also a great part of their mainstream commercial success and I´d say their formula is closer to commercial hard rock than "regular" metal. Personally I find the tracks way too formulaic to keep me entertained for more than a couple of spins, but I fully understand why the band appeal to so many. "Believe" is certainly both well written, well played and well produced, so all ingredients are here for a succesful release. I´d say a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fair.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Suffocated By Fungal Odors Deathcore
VISCERAL EXECRATION
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lethargy Metalcore
HEARTLAPSE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Vitriol Deathcore
BEHEADING THE ICON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cecità Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NITRITONO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Resiliencia Metalcore
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Suicidal Tendencies - Send Me Your Money
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 17 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Trip at the Brain
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 17 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Nobody Hears
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 17 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 17 hours ago
Thanatos - Source Of Mysteries (Video Oficial)
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed