Disturbed’s lead singer, David Draiman, urges fans to “Rise” above fear, complacency and hypocrisy. Elsewhere, he wants to empower someone and ease their pain (“Devour”), and declares, “[I] refuse to compromise the man I want to be” (“Bound”).
Supposedly a musical riff on the book of Job, “Prayer” comes across as a hopeless diatribe by a man who claims to “breed evil.” That song, “Remember” and “Mistress” describe the singer’s nightmarish existence. A sense of superiority oozes from “Awaken,” which seems strangely satisfied with another person’s misery. References to God, sin and redemption fall flat on the faithless “Believe.” Blasphemous uses of the Lord’s name appear on “Breathe.” Although “Liberate” condemns hatred and paraphrases Isaiah 2:3-4, it also shouts the “mother” of all f-words many times, thus earning the disc a parental advisory label.
Maybe it’s the two large piercings in Draiman’s chin that make him so grumpy (they must really hurt). Regardless, it’s unfair to lash out at God. If not for the amount of venom in Disturbed’s lyrics, his questions could be construed as a sincere desire to understand the Almighty. But it’s hard to give the benefit of the doubt to a guy who, with a bitter tone and obscene vocabulary, challenges God for failing to conform to his own notions of divinity.
