The Sickness is the first effort from the band, Disturbed. They debuted with a bang, of which they haven't reached since. And it's what the name suggests; aggressive, angry metal. It would really classify as nu-metal, and some of the best from that particular genre. It was certainly something. Really heavy, dark, and loud. David Draiman has the unique bark sound to his voice, but actually has decent range, being able to scream and growl, while returning to singing nicely. I also can't understand a word, and have made up half the lyrics. But the guitar is muted, low, and heavy for sure. The drums are thumping and seem to set the tone for everything. The electronic elements blend in perfectly, and are really well done. It sounds sort of dark and creepy, angry and violent. It's low and mean. It's that signature Disturbed sound. C'mon and feel their noize.

"Voices" has some fun little effect, with David growling "so" in that barking voice of his, then they lay on the heavy. The rest is David half-screaming, half-singing to some guitars which are on perfect tempo. It leads into "The Game", which isn't as good. The chorus is really the song's saving grace. It still feels a little "off", I guess. I like it a lot still. "Stupify", one of my favorites. This song really helps make the album, it really gets you going. Really heavy chorus with a great rhythm section, bass and drums working hand-in-hand. David does a great job singing things you'd have to read to understand, and some very excellent guitar work. It's just really heavy and sticks in your head. One of the best.

Who hasn't heard "Down with the Sickness"? No one, and for good reason. It's my personal favorite on this album, and favorite Disturbed song. The intro starts with Mike and some great orangutan drumming, but Dan comes in with some fantastic palm-muted guitar and David makes more noises. This is where things get "heavy". David can change between barking and singing really well, and the rest of the band do a great job leading into an amazing chorus, albeit and odd one. The bridge is an odd one, as it's basically David screaming about how abusive his mother was. Can't verify the authenticity, but it adds some more dark, angry, violent lyrical to an already dark, angry, violent album. Lead riff to chorus, end. Fantastic.

"Violence Fetish" is filler, really. It begins with some distorted guitar courtesy of Dan, and David doing his "Disturbed" thing. The guitar is weird, yes, but David and Dan are still magical together, and they do a good job. Needs some more traditional hardcore metal choruses, but dear lord the chorus is made of joy. The guitar is doing this fun screeching, with a hint of technical elements and David is just screaming and being angry. Makes the song. "Fear" has a really different intro, with some drums and this interesting little techno effect, then drops so excellently with David screaming and Dan providing the heavy. The whole band mixes together and delivers and perfect verse, and a pretty good heavy metal chorus. The outro hits you hard, with everyone kickin' it into overdrive.

"Numb" is filler, filler, filler. It's also sort of different in the fact it's slow... but slow, harmonizing David doesn't sound as good as the slower songs from American Capitalist. The c horus is pretty good, with all that good screaming and the rest of the band bringing in some hardcore. The chorus is what saves the song. David's more harmonizing voice doesn't really work on the song, and it's just kinda sub-par. "Want" begins with some very quiet, soft talking and this robotic drone and this industrial banging sound... Then at the 27 second mark, David startles me by screaming "SHE WANT MEH!" as loud as he can, then they destroy the verse. Dan's guitar palm-mutes and squeals. It's a slower song, but it's a slower Disturbed song done right. Decent effort with "Numb", but this is brilliance. It's crunching, heavy, and just great.

"Conflict" is great. The beginning has little bit of Dave, but it's really just doing their heavy (again) thing. The verse is a mix of Dan muting and Dave half-singing again. The chorus is full of screaming and plenty of HEAVY. The drumming is great on this album, I might add. But this song in particular. We are reunited with our double-bass drum friend, and it's a grand reunion. The bridge is actually fairly creepy, and the song ends with muting and bass/drum deliciousness.

"Shout 2000" is, in fact, a cover the Tears for Fears song of the same name. Not really original, but it's an amazing heavy metal cover of an older pop song. I really do like the Fears version, but oh my. I do love the Disturbed one. Even more so, I think. Sorry, but I do. Deal with it. "Droppin' Plates" is such a silly song. "A little somethin' for your earholes! GET UP!" Okay, it is one of my favorites from these guys. It's just sort of rolling, and David's screaming takes it places. It's the heaviest. They dished out the heavy good here. It's rolling and full of David's screaming and Dan on the higher strings. They just go all out on this on.Turn up your speakers.

"Meaning of Life" begins with a little drum beat from Mike, and an electronic beat that's a dead ringer for "Head Like a Hole". This song is also very heavy, it can compete with "Droppin' Plates". Full of palm-muted joy, and David flawlessly singing to screaming and back again. Mike works overtime, and the bridge is great. Dave basically raps, and I really couldn't understand what he said. Anyway, this is a brilliant way to top off the album. Fast, heavy, and probably the creepiest song on the album.

Overall, The Sickness wins in big ways. It's nu-metal at its absolute finest. Heavy, palm-muted guitars, fast drum rolls, screaming vocals and electronics mesh together flawlessly to create this lyrically dark, violent, profane, and angry album!



I also learned that Song-by-song takes a lot of time and text.

Five Finger Death Punch - American Capitalist - A Review

In starting; Wow.



Five Finger Death Punch are indeed a sonic war machine of sorts, and American Tragedy only cements this further. One wouldn't describe modern (largely) as "clever" or "mature", but this album certainly is. Five Finger have certain "no bull" type approach to their music, and from the opening moments and growls, I could tell one of the year's finest was coming. Many years of hard work and middle fingers have come together to birth this, c'mon and feel their noize.

The opening track is hard and fast, setting the tone perfectly. Guitarists Zoltan Bathory and Jason Hook are sick. They create a low, death metal sound and trade off time signatures so effectively. The beastly riffs can be a tad repetitive, but the low tuning really does make up for it. This album is also a lot more solo friendly. They're more pronounced, more respected. They're beautiful, roaring, explosive, great. They remind me of 80s heavy metal solos of yore, and are integrated perfectly to the growling, crunching frenzy. There are also more acoustic intros on American Capitalist than on previous Five Finger Death Punch albums. It gives it a more intelligent feel, but keeping the brutality. The guitar work here is truly something to be admired.

The rhythm! Oh, the rhythm is tight. The bass/drum sync is spot-on brilliant and makes this album so amazing. Chris Kael makes a wonderful debut, and gets his own little solo on" Generation Dead", even! Jeremy Spencer delivers a brutal double-bass drum pummeling. He too gets his little moment on the title track. But, i do wish we got maybe some slightly more aggressive drums, but is hectic enough to please. The rhythm section does get a little repetitive (yet amazingly synced), that said.

The lyrics and vocals are great as ever. Ivan Moody continues to live up to his name, delivering angry throaty growls and clean, harmonic vocals. The lyrics are aggressive and angry. The growling hate-filled verses come and kick your skull in, and the clean, harmonized vocals come in and finish the job with an equal amount of sheer aggression. The lyrics are both really angry, and highly intelligent. I'd go so far as to describe some of it as poetry. In short, my ears hurt.



"Under and Over It" is the first single, and it's a brilliant example to sum up FFDP. It's full of all the anger and aggression, fast paced drums, sizable riffs, and some deep, catchy lyrics. "The Pride" is a brilliant list song, as Mr. Moody runs down pop culture icons and brand names. It's the most blatant about commercialism, and a sarcastic comment on our materialistic obsession. These guys have perfected every sonic element for sure.

"Coming Down" is the first softer, acoustic song on Capitalist. It's a music suicide note that's touching, as well as FFDP tough. Moody's voice reaches new heights, and Bathony/Hook top things off nicely with some wicked distortion.

"OHHHHHH YEAHHHHHH!! **** IT.", screams Moody before we are bludgeoned by the brilliant double-bass stomp and the guitarists curb stomp you into submission. The bass/drum sync really do shine here, and the solo fits in so perfectly. One of the heaviest tracks, and it's catchy, but "Menace" ends, and the groovy bass and guitar distortion lead nicely into "Generation Dead".

FFDP get "real" with "I Remember Everything" which beings with Moody bearing his soul and flaws in a letter to his family. It slowly builds up to a true "sky full of lighters" (sky full of iPhones?) chorus. Honest as it gets.

"Wicked Ways" is super catchy and sort of punky in its own way. "If I Fall" is another good example of everything FFDP. It starts out with a slow intro, then blasts into a full on assault of thee aforementioned double-bass and hyperspace-speed riff, while Moody spits out "If I Fall, I'm dragging everybody down."

"100 Ways to Hate" is a metallic, atomic assault. Everything gets caught in the mushroom cloud. It's a giant middle finger to all y'all haters, and ends poetically with an "eff you".

American Capitalist is easily the best Five Finger Death Punch album. They seem more confident, and have perfected their sound. It's a brilliant assault of all things great about heavy metal. "Bass drum kick that'll blow out your eyes", lightspeed, low riffs, excellent solos. It has poetic, intelligent, angry lyrics with some great gruff verses and epic, harmonic choruses. I think it's the best album of the year. Haters gonna hate.

Hollywood Undead gets a lot of hate, but I feel it's unjust. I'm no diehard, but I like me some Hollywood Undead. That said, when evaluated on their own merits, the L.A.-based rap-rock sextet can deliver a very pleasing album full of great beats, and catchy vocals. Plus plenty of distorted guitar give it some weight and grit. Hollywood Undead pick up where they left off with their 2008 hit, Swan Songs. American Tragedy is a darker, funner, booze-soaked ride. Still all the tongue-in-cheek sort of self awareness, but with a little more edge.

The album starts out amazingly strong with the crunching, industrial "Been to Hell", and closes very nicely with a the underrated rap-rock classic "Tendencies". It's electric and murderous. The Linkin Park-sounding "Levitate" is fantastic as well. "I Don't Wanna Die" is reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails. Could be considered fairly emo, but I'm not sure I care. "Apologize" is a highly self aware to which goes down real smooth with the new vocalist, who sounds like a mix of Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, and Justin Timberlake (?). It's a great slap in the face to all the haters. "We don't apologize, and that's just the way it is." The ballads are very forgettable, and really don't do it for me. "Coming Back Down", "Hear Me Now", the like. Really, the only ballad that worked was "Pour Me", in which Johnny 3 Tears pours his guts out and bears his lonely, boozed soul. It has a really great hook, and a dark ballad. Real, true genius lies in "Bullet", a disturbingly upbeat and catchy song about a man longing for suicide. It's probably the album's sunniest track, despite the dark subject matter.

This album though is tonal. It's hard to flip-flop between your "Been to Hell"s and "I Don't Wanna Die"s to blatant and unsubtle tracks like "Gangsta Sexy". But the party anthem "Comin' In Hot" is a guilty pleasure. It's foul, it stupid, but it's catchy and just metallic enough. Charlie Scene dishes out wisdom such as "man sword". These tracks are og course purposely vulgar and edgy. I just can't place if they're doing it on purpose or if they're trying to be tough gangstas...

Overall, American Tragedy is at least worth checking out, especially to those disappointed with Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns. It's amazingly catchy, no doubt. Killer hooks, distorted guitars, aplenty. Hollywood Undead still do have sort of a identity crisis, have one foot in the typical party lifestyle of drugs and women, and another foot in the dark and surreal. I can still appreciate it for what it is, and it's a perfect follow up to Swan Songs, if not better.

The Magic Momet At Papa Murphy's.

Ahh yes. Well, here's another story about pretty much nothing.

It was a snowy night. One of the first in little old Lehi, Utah. Anyway, it was a magical sight. My friends and I decided to cut through the Papa Murphy's parking lot. But, why just walk? Why just swagger? No, no, we danced in the falling snow. We pranced in the parking lot, and two employees noticed us and came out with us. We danced until the employees notice two of their co-workers standing outside on the other side of the building. They immediately stop frolicking.
"What are you doing?! Get the (f-word) back in the store! You're supposed to be closing!" One of the employees said, pointing at the store.
"Just smoking a cig, (b-word)!" the co-worker cooly replied.

And I laughed and laughed. That's my tale.