Ten Thousand Fists - Disturbed

Are you down with the sickness? Well I'm sorry to hear that; take some aspirin and get some rest. If, however, you are well and ready to get your rock on, I've got a winner for you. My second album of the week is Ten Thousand Fists.
The album kicks off with the title track. By now, you should know how important I find album-openers. This one leaves nothing left to be desired. After some synth and pounding drums, you get the amazing vocals of David Draiman soaring out above it all. Not only does his voice fit the style and genre perfectly, he has some little nuances that make it even better. The most noticeable is the grunting, throat-clearing, hocking noise he makes in between lines of music. I compare this much to Matt Bellamy's exaggerated breathing in much of Muse's work. It's by no means necessary, but pulls you into the emotion and environment that he wishes to create wonderfully. Also, in the band, the way the guitar strumming is often mirrored in the bass drum gives a pulse to the songs, drawing you in. This is another band that really makes use of long and short chords to place emphasis.
The content of the album doesn't vary too much, but that's a good thing. Why fix what's not broken? Unlike the concept albums of progressive rock, this album doesn't need too much variation to be a great addition to any collection. However, a few songs really stand out against the rest. "Ten Thousand Fists," "Stricken" and (in my opinion) "Land of Confusion" are amazing. The reason "Land of Confusion" makes in that list is that it presents me with a rare occurrence. It's a cover song, and I really like it. I'm usually not much for cover songs, as I feel that the original artist's idea tends to be the best fit for the song. However, I find Genesis' political pop song reborn in the metal chords of Disturbed. The song really lends itself to a new genre, and between the vocals and instrumentation, it's obvious that this was the band to do it.
That's really all I have to say. You can't go wrong with the 'in-your-face' sounds of this band, and especially, this album.

Free link to the album on Napster:
http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12063015