Andrew’s Judgmental Album Reviews: Disturbed – Divisive (2022)

This is one of those no brainer coverages, ya know? Everyone over the age of 10 should know who Disturbed is; if you like them or not is another story. While they started in that super heavy Nu Metal genre, they took some time off, came back a little preachy and stripped down – but this is supposed to be a return to heavier form.

Since we all know who this band is, let’s just see if the album is closer to their old sound, or still in that Heavy Rock kinda thing they’ve been doing lately.

Disturbed is: David Draiman (Vocals), John Moyer (Bass), Mike Wengren (Percussion, Drums & Programming) Dan Donegan (Guitars, Keyboards & Programming)

• Artist: Disturbed
• Album: Divisive (2022)
• Label: Reprise Records
• Total Track Time: 37:59

Hey You was the first single, and this has more of a Ten Thousand Fists kind of vibe. Heavy, guitar driven and a little preachy. The lyrics basically push the hive mind/tribalism mindset that humanity has fallen into more overtly in the last few years. So when it comes down to sound, they’ve recaptured perhaps their mid point aggression before they fell completely into a more mainstream sound. Bad Man has more distortion to the guitar and really strikes me like something off of Believe. Could’ve easily followed up Prayer.  We also get a return to a squelched solo, that works well for the song and also stays in that older Disturbed vein. Damn good song with lyrics that just express the idea of us being at the mercy of another bad man. Its vague enough to have good sticking power. Divisive the title track goes along with the theme so far of anger, hate and tribalism causing rifts and division in humanity, “Depend on the depth of your lie, You’re divisive, Hatred will never go away, They will never deny, They’re divisive, Hatred will never go away”. While musically I would place this more around Indestructible, the very present drum, more growled tone to the vocals and color of the song evoke a nice tempered rage.

Unstoppable stays in that Indestructible tone, especially with the more melodic chorus. “There can be no penance, For the parasite that you’ve become, There is no repentance, This judgment can’t be undone, There will be no mercy, No lenience while I’m alive, Vengeance is coming, Believe it now, you won’t survive”, occasional double bass and blast beats do make this a very fun and fast song to groove to, but the venom and heaviness takes a back seat to the more melodic arrangement. Not a bad thing of course, just when they hyped the album as more of a return to unbridled anger…I wasn’t expecting a song with a swaying group sing-a-long vibe. Love to Hate starts off with very relatable lyrics, “I can feel the anger building in me time and time again (Time and time again), I can see this world of ours is far beyond redemption, This madness has become a part of who we are (A part of who we are), Everyone just loves to hate”. Again, this does a good job a sticking with the general theming of the album with divisive thoughts, depravity and ignorance.

Feeding the Fire opens with more of the baritone clean singing from Draiman, and we get more of a soaring rock song which fits the lyrics of hoping to find something, feeding the fire for a remedy. While it could be covid, the placement of the song could also be interpreted as hope and needing a remedy for all of this hatred and insanity. So smart track placement, interpretive lyrics and instrumentation that evokes that feeling of overcoming a difficulty is all a beautiful combination. Don’t Tell Me (feat Ann Wilson), yes that’s Ann Wilson from Heart. And this is an interesting slower song. “Don’t tell me now that you hate me, For never letting go, Let there be no doubt, I can’t live my life without you”, the song generally being about not wanting to let go, or not being able to live without someone…causes a lot of interesting perspective. Yes it could be a commiserating break up song, or it could be the toxic symbiotic relationship of humanity with the world. Kind of a thinker, and I wasn’t really expecting to sit here and contemplate that. However, with the divisive aspect being a fairly strong theme in all the songs, humanity strikes me as more of the correct answer.

Take Back Your Life, okay now this really goes back in their arrangement style. A click track open, pounding drums and distorted guitar hit you with that Believe era vibe. Which also checks the slightly preachy tone of you being the only person who can get your life back on track. So its personal motivation, heavy metal Tony Robbins. Part of Me is divisive in the abstract. “You were a part of me, you’ve taken everything, I see the future and it’s crumbling right in front of me, You were a part of me, you’ve taken everything, And now I live with a lie”,  this could be interpreted as family, significant others, or even just an old immature perspective that no longer applies to the person you’ve become. I do appreciate that there’s a few more interpretative songs, instead of just blindly preachy or biased. Smart writing, and a solid song. Won’t Back Down is probably the weakest song on the album, but being that it is at the end of an album filled with anger, disdain, confusion and dealing with fear…it fits. In a vacuum the song is something I’ll probably never listen to, but as the final step in this journey, another smart one.

Now I’m not going to sit here and say it’s a complete “return to form” but it definitely found a happy medium and a lot of wrinkles to older albums, sounds and musical arrangements were fun. Also I do like that even though it wasn’t billed as a concept album, it definitely held strong to a central theme; which is smart and works for the current climate. Even the mediocre songs weren’t bad and had a grander point in sculpting the flow of the album. So smart choices, smart work, and just all in all, I’m more impressed than I expected to be.

Give it a spin, while it may not make my Top 10 by year end, its damn good and right on the bubble.

Final Judgment: 8.2/10