Disturbed - Divisive (2022) [Deluxe]

Performer: Disturbed
Album: «Divisive»
Label: © + ® Warner Music Group., (Reprise Records), Made in Germany
Catalog #: 093624867975
Style: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal
Year: 2022
Format: PCM (image + .cue)
Bitrate: lossless
Covers: ---
Size RAR: ~ 398.5 MB
Upload: turbobit / xfile.cloud



Rating: 7/10
Divisive is out November 18, 2022 via Warner Music, pre-order it here
Review by Ricky Aarons

Oh-wahahaha!! When Disturbed started releasing new music and announced Divisive in 2022, there was always a question mark on direction. Would they continue on the path they paved in their latter years with melodic-radio-friendly records Immortalized (2015) and Evolution (2018), or would they revert back to their career-defining heavier sounds. The latter seemed unlikely, farfetched and perhaps optimistic. However, Disturbed has delivered pleasantly surprising album, for the most part anyway.
Their COVID-era record, and their first LP in four years feels like a release that pumps out all the best material in the first half, setting a high standard until it takes a bit of a turn. ‘Hey You‘ is where things kicked off for Disturbed this year, and it dropped jaws around the world. The tuning took us back to the early noughties, with iconic vocalist David Draiman delivering the kind of screams and growls that we heard on Believe and The Sickness, which was beyond refreshing.

‘Bad Man‘ feels like a track straight out of 2008’s Indestructible and that’s no exaggeration. Without any glorified intro, guitarist Dan Donegan rips into a chuggy and bouncy rhythm, taking you back a good fifteen years. Whilst Draiman reverts back to a highly melodic chorus, his vocal style remains raw, just like the singles released, maintaining this heavy flavour of Disturbed, and it feels like a triumphant return.

Singles ‘Divisive‘ and ‘Unstoppable‘ both follow on from the first two tracks with the same heavy energy and a constant side of ‘rugged’. It’s really that ‘rugged’ approach to their early records that got the attention of the hard rock and heavy metal world, and they’re showing in 2022 that they’ve still got it. Both these tracks recycle some key sounds from the previous era but with modern production and a fresh take. There’s arguably nothing negative to comment at this point of the record.

‘Love to Hate‘ is kind of the end of a consecutive five-string set of tracks that play into this Disturbed legacy style before the album starts to shift. This song is where the old meets the new, and the more clean vocal and slightly higher tuned sound returns. Draiman channels his Twitter personality lyrically, with a conveyance of frustration at our current divide in the political landscape. This track is probably the happiest medium between the eras of the band. ‘Feeding The Fire‘ fits largely on the spectrum of Immortalized and Evolution without sharing much in the realm of ‘new’ and additive.

‘Don’t Tell Me‘ features Heart‘s Ann Wilson, and well, if you’re into Disturbed‘s rock ballads or even Nita Strauss‘ track ‘Dead Inside‘ with Draiman, you’ll like it, particularly with Donegan absolutely shredding. However, if you’re after the ‘no bullsh*t’ Disturbed classic sound, you might find yourself clicking ‘next’. Before you know it, you’re on the back-end of Divisive and wondering whether it’s going to end like it began (spoiler alert: it does not). ‘Take Back Your Life‘ feels like a deep-cut filler track that’s not particularly bad but again doesn’t offer anything particularly powerful or memorable, besides one of Draiman’s rarely heard “OW”s which is nice to hear. Bassist John Moyer and Drummer Mike Wengren are notably energetic on this record and save the day on the more melodic tracks as their prolong a sense of heaviness throughout, including in tracks like this.

With the final two songs left, you’ll be biting your lip hoping for a bit more heavy. ‘Part of Me‘ delivers this with a level of mediocrity. There’s definitely the heavier elements with Draiman having refined his gruff vocal style and successfully avoiding his more recent clean effort, but it certainly doesn’t match the opening three-to-four tracks of the album. Closing with ‘Won’t Back Down‘, Disturbed end their 2022 effort with a fairly strong finish. With elements of Believe and Ten Thousand Fists seeping into the song structure, it’s an easy head-bang and leaves a positive taste in your mouth. With a few more “OW”s and some “get up, get up”s, you can almost hear Draiman’s old double labret piercing reappearing above his chin.

Overall, Disturbed‘s new album is a pretty good record. Is it great? That decision may be divisive. It’s remarkable to hear the return of their well-rooted heavier foundations in close to half of the record, but seemingly disappointing for the half to continue on from their more recent two records, honing in on their contemporary softer and more melodic side. A notably higher rating goes to the record for giving fans a strong dose of their earlier and heavier era.

It’s been a pretty good century so far for Disturbed.

The Chicago-formed heavy rock band has released seven studio albums since 2020′s “The Sickness,” with five of them debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s notched 11 No. 1 Mainstream Rock chart singles -- including covers of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” as well as “Hey You,” the lead track from the quartet’s new album, “Divisive.”

The new “Divisive” -- scheduled for release Friday, Nov. 18 -- is the follow-up to 2018′s “Evolution” and finds Disturbed working with a new producer, Drew Fulk, who previously worked with Papa Roach, Motionless in White, Pop Evil, We Came as Romans and others. It also features a duet between frontman David Draiman and Heart’s Ann Wilson on the track “Don’t Tell Me.”

With a concert tour looming for 2023, guitarist Dan Donegan broke down the making of “Divisive” by phone from his home near Chicago...

How did “Divisive” come about?

Donegan: I think the very first time we got together was early in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. We had gone out to visit David -- he moved out to Hawaii to be closer to his wife’s parents. We rented some studio time; we were just gonna get together and improvise a bit. But we weren’t quite ready. It was really just an excuse to go to Hawaii and kind of break away a bit. Once we got there we weren’t ready to start writing.

And then the pandemic hit...

Donegan: For the first year and a half or so of the lockdown we didn’t do anything. We were all kind of dealing with it, just like the rest of the world. We had intentions of going out that summer for the 20th anniversary of our first album, “The Sickness” -- how ironic, with that title -- but had to just put everybody’s plans on hold. I was struggling with it, that we didn’t have that creative outlet to be out on stage, which is a big therapy session for us. I was going through some personal stuff and a divorce and Mikey (Wengren) our drummer went through a divorce. It was a dark time.

When did it change?

Donegan: In the fall of 2021 we decided to do a handful of shows, I think it was four or five shows. We were passing through Florida and had a couple days off and I suggested going to Fort Myers to visit Dave Fortman, who used to be in the band Ugly Kid Joe and has had a lot of success as a producer over the years with Evanescence, Slipknot, Godsmack, Mudvayne. I thought since maybe we had a couple days off we could pop in with him and demo some ideas, maybe improvise. It was a very quick session, just at his condo, not even a studio. It was just us crammed into this little room...but that’s what got the ball rolling creatively.

At what point did you get a sense of what the next Disturbed album would be like?

Donegan: Y’know, I always have a bunch of stuff in the vaults...that I can go back to, either demos or riffs. But in this case, I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to rely on the stuff that was saved. I wanted to see if by improvising in the moment, we could collectively be creative and capture something. And it was happening. I think we were all in the right headspace. We were all ready and eager to get the ball rolling, so we just kinda came up with all fresh ideas.

Was there a first song or a couple of early songs that put “Divisive” on its path?

Donegan: Well, definitely “Hey You” was one of the first ones. It just came to me; we were in Fort Myers and Dave Fortman threw a couple drum ideas at me to improvise against and we found a cool tempo and a cool groove. The riff came out, like instantly, probably in the first 15 or 20 seconds. And David can very quickly come up with melodies, too, so it was done really fast. I think that was November of 2021 and we finished the dates in Daytona Beach and kinda knew we were ready to do an album.

And do it with a different producer this time.

Donegan: We wanted to switch things up. We did the (previous) two albums with Kevin Churko out in (Las) Vegas and it was an amazing experience, but we felt it was time to maybe seek a new relationship. I started researching producers and came across Drew Fulk, who had been working with Motionless in White and Papa Roach and Pop Evil and I really liked the production he was doing with them. I thought he was a younger, newer talent, a guy with maybe some drive and fire in him, a little more fight in him. And I thought the marriage between us would be a good one. We were trying to bring back those signature Disturbed elements of the guitar riffs and syncopated drums and getting David back into some of the animalistic sounds, combined with the newer, fresher production elements and electronic elements that Drew has done with some of his other artists.

You made the album in Nashville, too, which was a first for the band.

Donegan: Yeah. I liked (Fulks) right away and said, “Hey, how do you feel about doing the album in Nashville?” I’m not a big fan of being locked up in studios in L.A., and I thought it would be a nice change of pace to find a place in Nashville. We found a great place called East Iris which is a small house converted into a studio. It had such a cool vibe to it, I felt like it was going to a friend’s house to jam with my buddies. It didn’t have that sterile environment of punching the clock. We started the day after Super Bowl Sunday and just went to work.

Another first on here is the duet with Ann Wilson. How did that come about?

Donegan: We had talked over the years about maybe someday collaborating or having a guest appearance. A few years ago Ann Wilson had done an interview and they asked her if there was anything new out there she found inspiring. And she said, “Yeah, Disturbed, ‘The Sound of Silence.’ So we were excited about the fact she even knew who the band was. It was satisfying enough right there, ‘cause she’s a rock legend. So that kind of opened the door, and David had spoken with her a few times via social media. Once we started finalizing the melodies and the music to “Don’t Tell Me,” (Draiman) said, “What do you think about trying to get Ann to sing on this?” “Absolutely! Let’s see if she’s interested.” He reached out to her and I think it was almost instantly she responded that she wanted to do it.

Did you fanboy on her in the studio?

Donegan: A little bit. (laughs) That was such a huge moment, ‘cause we haven’t done that with any other artist throughout our career. To have this living legend work with us was like a badge of honor. It’s not like she does this with many people, especially with a hard rock band like us. Me, David and Drew flew out to San Francisco and found a studio and she came in just ready to work and really cool and to do whatever we asked or whatever we tried. I’m just sitting in the control room watching David and her work out the harmonies, and it was such a surreal moment and just too cool. I think we worked with her for about two or three hours and then walked out and we’re just looking at each other like, “Holy...Did that just happen?!” It was just such a cool moment.”

Will we be seeing Disturbed on stage next year?

Donegan: We’re in talks right now. Right now, the band just wants to get back up there on stage....We want to play this new material. We want to have what was taken from us, from the world, having to be put on pause for the pandemic. So we’re ready to hit it. On paper we have dates and an idea; now it’s kind of up to management and promoters to help us make it happen. We’re just excited to know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel here and get back to where we love being, and that’s on stage.

Tracklist:

01. Hey You (4:28)
02. Bad Man (3:22)
03. Divisive (3:59)
04. Unstoppable (3:58)
05. Love to Hate (3:37)
06. Feeding the Fire (4:19)
07. Don't Tell Me (feat. Ann Wilson) (4:32)
08. Take Back Your Life (2:58)
09. Part of Me (3:54)
10. Won't Back Down (2:52)

Art Direction, Design – Alex Tenta
Bass [Bass By] – John Moyer (2)
Booking [International Booking For] – CAA*
Booking [International Booking] – Emma Banks
Booking [North American Booking For] – CAA*
Booking [North American Booking] – Darryl Eaton, Ryan Harlacher
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals By] – Mike Wengren
Engineer [Additional Engineering By] – Jace Mann (tracks: 7), Paul Murphy (38)
Engineer, Mixed By [Mix Assistant] – Trent Woodman
Guitar [All Guitars], Electronics, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals By] – Dan Donegan
Illustration – Raymond Swanland
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals By] – David Draiman
Legal – Jeffrey Light
Legal [Legal For] – Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg & Light LLP*
Management – Q Prime Inc.
Mastered By [All Songs Mastered By] – Ted Jensen
Mixed By – Jeff Dunne (2), Jeff Dunne (2)
Photography By [Photo] – David Shinn
Producer [Produced By], Engineer [Engineered By] – WZRD BLD
Songwriter [All Songs Written By] – Disturbed