Ten Thousand Fists - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
On their third album, Disturbed don't as much break out of expected patterns as show their potential for doing so. Fans eager for more of the band's patented fist-thumping gruel will take satisfaction in the album's opening (and anthemic) title track, plus "I'm Alive" and "Forgiven." The band shines brightest in the record's early moments, where "Deify," "Guarded," "Just Stop," and "Stricken" demonstrate that this unit's capable of discovering a song's subtleties and crafting radio-ready choruses meant to uplift the souls of disenfranchised subdivision dwellers. The album isn't without its problems--come the halfway mark ("Sons of Plunder") vocalist David Draiman and his mates lapse into the expected, with a series of songs that are good but rarely as remarkable as those found in Act I. That said, Ten Thousand Fists ultimately reminds us that Disturbed refuse to relent in their journey toward greatness. --Jedd Beaudoin

Album Description
After a triple-platinum debut and platinum follow-up, Disturbed fuses the brutality and darkness of 2000's The Sickness with the added melodic nature and complexity of 2002's Believe for album number three. Aggressive, relentless and intense-yet at the same time transcendent-Ten Thousand Fists is a rock sledgehammer.

Customer Reviews: Read 307 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Life after nu-metal September 26, 2005
58 out of 75 found this review helpful

To many music fans, Disturbed are a typical nu-metal band. That's fine when nu-metal was popular, but when it collapsed, being the poster boys of that genre took on a whole different meaning. Disturbed are now considered by some as a band which demonstrates all that's wrong with nu-metal. So, what could they do? They could be like Linkin Park, and continue to be the nu-metal band that they have always been and hope that their fans stick with them and keep buying their albums; or they could follow in Papa Roach's footsteps and evolve and add new ingredients to their music, in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.

Well, for their third record, this Chicago based four piece did a little of both. "Ten Thousand Fists" is kind of like a combination of their first two albums. Most of the songs (i.e. "Just Stop" and "I'm Alive") have both aggressive vocals and "Believe"-esque clean singing, and singer David Draiman doesn't scat (or make monkey noises) as much as he did five years ago. But some of the songs (like "Stricken," "Sons of Plunder," and "Decadence") bring "The Sickness" to mind, and most of these riffs are heavier and less mellow than those of "Believe."

But this album also has a few new things. For instance, most nu-metal bands usually steer clear of guitar solos, but, perhaps in an attempt to rid themselves of the nu-metal label, guitarist Dan Donegan sprinkles on a few solos, here. Plus, Draiman shows his newfound political awareness on the bold album closer, "Avarice."

The lead single, "Guarded," is a good example of the album as a whole. It begins with a strong, propulsive, jackhammer riff, but the beat then turns to bobbing riffs with staccato vocals, and the song climaxes with a melodic chorus. Some clean singing and a guitar solo are also slipped into the mix, here. "Stricken" is the other single. It has some of David's famous scat, and its choppy, Motorhead-influenced riff and rhythm make it sort of sound like Disturbed's 2002 single, "Liberate." Other album highlights include the skipping riffs on "Deify," "Overburdened" (a slower song and a monotony breaker), the very angry and aggressive "Decadence," "Forgiven" (which has a wah-wah solo), and the crunchy, almost explosive riffs on "Sacred Lie."

"Ten Thousand Fists" does have a few flaws, though. Aside from having a few guitar solos, it doesn't really show Disturbed evolving or maturing. Plus, not all of the lyrics are great. Draiman is none-too-worried about hitting cliches in the song "I'm Alive," which features the somewhat confusing line "You'll never take me alive!" Fortunately, this album is catchy, contagious/infectious, and energetic enough to make up for these flaws, and make it possibly Disturbed's best and most mature album to date.

So, "Ten Thousand Fists" has defied the critics and shown the world that there is indeed life after nu-metal...even for Disturbed! If you like nu-metal or if you enjoy Disturbed's first two discs, this album is made for you. If you don't enjoy this genre or this band, however, this album won't change your mind, so you'll want to give it a wide birth. But if you're only so-so on nu-metal, don't immediately dismiss this as "just another nu-metal album." Go ahead...give this disc a whirl, and pump your fists in the air to the songs of "Ten Thousand Fists."

4 out of 5 stars

Ten Thousand Fists in the Air September 28, 2005
47 out of 64 found this review helpful

Disturbed has been a favorite rock/metal band of mine since The Sickness, so when I found out that Ten Thousand Fists was coming out I immediately pre-ordered it. I love the band, and most of what they put out is excellent, but my feelings about this CD are somewhat mixed.

Ten Thousand Fists certainly shows some growth and "evolution" for the band. There are more guitar solos, showing off the talent of Dan Donegan, while David Draiman's vocals have matured a great deal, lapsing from discordant and growling into mellow and melodic rather seamlessly. Furthermore, it seems as though Disturbed has become increasingly more musically complex over the years. However, it would appear that this maturity comes at the price of some of the raw, gritty, aggressive punch that attracted me to the band in the first place.

Songs like "Overburdened" and "Forgiven," though melodic, are somewhat repetitive and fail to hold my attention. However, songs such as "Just Stop," "Guarded," and "Stricken" make up for some lost ground with their intriguing lyrics and powerful, thumping beats. "Decadence" brings to mind songs from both The Sickness and Believe. Don't get me wrong, the bulk of this album contains great, unadulterated, pounding rhythms, stellar vocals, and decent lyrics. Nonetheless, it should be noted that not every song is a winner here.

Lackluster as some of the songs may seem when compared to both The Sickness and Believe, this CD is still far better than the vast majority of rock and "nu-metal" tripe being put out today, and is still well worth the money. Ten Thousand Fists has it's pitfalls, though overall I think they are few and far between.

5 out of 5 stars

Still The Kings of Metal September 21, 2005
27 out of 34 found this review helpful

My review of Disturbed's debut The Sickness labeled them "The New Kings of Metal". I think that there would be more than Ten Thousand Fists in the air in agreement that Disturbed certainly still hold their position in the hierarchy of Metal with the release of this new disk.

What an impressive follow-up Ten Thousand Fists is to Disturbed's 5 star sophomore effort Believe. Ten Thousand Fists is a disk of hard rocking, melodic music with terrific vocals by David Draiman that can be understood all the way through. Dan Donegan (guitar)and Mike Wengren (drums) once again work together in a way that keeps every song rocking along with head bobbin, foot stompin precision (this as opposed to music where the drums and bass merely keep time in the background).

There are many bands trying to be hard these days. Disturbed do not have to try. Clearly their music is what comes naturally to them. Ten Thousand Fists is not the awful manufactured Pop Metal like Nickelback and most recently Trapt (Draiman sings about manufactured music in "Sons of Plunder"). Ten Thousand Fists is not Nu Metal like Staind or 10 Years; Nu Metal isn't bad...but it's not Heavy Metal. Ten Thousand Fists is not Death Metal like Lamb of God or Cannibal Corpse. And Ten Thousand Fists is not Punk like Blink 182, Green Day and the hundreds of others that all sound alike plaguing the radio today.

Ten Thousand Fists is Heavy Metal in the purest form of the art...vocals that you can follow, harmonies, melody, intensity...a uniqueness to each song where there is no confusion as to whether the track has changed. Ten Thousand Fists is great, hard rockin' fun.

And to my surprise..supporting my contention in a couple of my other recent reviews that guitar rock will once again dominate the rock genre...Dan Donegan even throws a few very awesome solos onto this disk.

This disk is an absolute must for your Metal collection. You Will Remember The Night You Were Struck By The Sight Of Ten Thousand Fists In The Air!

4 out of 5 stars

I love Disturbed, but they're not metal September 25, 2005
17 out of 21 found this review helpful

I can't do anything but laugh when I see people calling Disturbed 'Kings of Metal' and pointing at bands like Nickelback and Trapt which I doubt if they're even rock, calling them 'Pop Metal'. If this is metal for you, I can't imagine how you will call extreme metal bands like Nile or Morbid Angel for example.
No, Disturbed is not metal my friend. They're a rock band, with quite heaviness, some screams here and there, and all that stuff, but they're far from being classified as metal. Their song structure is totally rock oriented or even pop. Most of vocals are almost rapped, and usually most of riffs are very simple.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a metal freak with a closed mind. I love Disturbed, all their albums. But calling them 'Kings of Metal' is a nonsense at very least.

Now...about this album. I think it's great. It's the same classic Disturbed style, but this time I see a little more complexity in some songs, some good guitar solos here and there...some good new stuff. The bad part is that, as some other people pointed at, it gets a little boring because there're some songs which are quite similar and plain, which lowers the final rating of the album. For me, 4 stars.

1 out of 5 stars

Progression Through Unlearning September 20, 2005
15 out of 36 found this review helpful

Once again, I know that NO ONE here is going to like this and NO ONE is going to take some alternate advice but I'm going to say this/ask anyway....What exactly about Disturbed equates them as being remotely metal? Or good? Before anyone gets bent out of shape, let me first start by saying that due to [...] streaming this pile two weeks ago on their site, I have heard at least 1/2 of this album. The ONLY reason I was curious was because I had heard a rumor of possible guitar solos and I thought a listen might be good for a laugh. From what I heard, the miniscule amount of lead guitar work that might possibly be mistaken for a "solo" was no more a solo than any I've heard from any nu-metal band in the past. Not that any amount of lead guitar work is going to do much for an album with simplistic rap-rock rhythms. Bottom line: these guys are supposed to be "professional" musicians and Greg Ginn from Black Flag sounds like Jimi Hendrix in comparison.

I've been listening to metal for nearly 20 years of my life and in 2005, there are more great and mega-talented metal bands of all shapes and sizes than ever before. Metal and rock music has taken from all influence and progressed so far since Disturbed appeared and have left them in the dust in every way possible. Then again, if you listened to any underground metal when Disturbed first appeared, those bands were light years ahead back in 2000 as well.

Most people have already seen the 1 star rating and dismissed my opinion ad hoc and that's fine. I'm not trying to instruct people what to listen to. If you think Disturbed is great, go nuts. I'm simply telling you that there are a TON of bands out there right now as I write this with much better music than Disturbed will ever concoct. Here's a short list of those bands:

Clutch
Finntroll
Nevermore
Opeth
In Battle
Porcupine Tree
Slayer
Fates Warning
Dream Theater
Kamelot
Symphony X
Shadows Fall

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