Monday, May 9, 2016

Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence


Band:  Disturbed
Genre:  Heavy Metal

Disturbed is one of those bands I have a love hate relationship with.  One one hand the music is really the generic angry sounds of everybody's middleschool highschool days.  On the other, the guitarist is actually a really underrated player who's really good at being a busy yet simple enough to not sound busy.  Draiman, the vocalist, is a fantastic singer who manages to bring an aspect of melody to a band that otherwise would just be another hardcore band.

For all this though they are still just kind of...  Meh to me.  Don't get me wrong, all the things I just said about them are true.  I do think they are a really powerful group and have some great things going for them, I just don't think it always comes through.

That is, up until this song.

Disturbed has decided that, in addition to Draiman's usual preachy stance on literally everything from weed to the holocaust, they are going to show a softer side.

There are very few cover songs that I think are legitimately better than the original.  All Along The Watchtower would be a good example of a cover song that's leaps and bounds above the original.

Well who would have figured that Disturbed would not only cover a Simon & Garfunkel song, but actually do it well?  Nobody basically.  The fact of the matter is though they managed to take a song and turn it into a power ballad that would make anybody proud.  The message of the song manages to shine through much strong than it did in the original without actually taking away from it.  The edge that Draiman's voice takes on when he get's more emotional in the song helps to drive in the point in a way that the original just wasn't able to.

Don't be scared by the fact that I labeled these guys as Heavy Metal.  That's their general genre but it's not how the song sounds.  They didn't speed it up and add a pile of guitars to it.  Take a listen and enjoy it.

4 comments:

  1. I grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel. But I have to tell you, that the first time I heard this version, I was quite taken by it. In fact, I've got it lined up for my next battle of the bands post that will happen on May 16. You'll have to stop by to see who I have them competing against ;)

    Mary
    Jingle Jangle Jungle

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    1. The 16th you say? I may just have to swing by for that, haha

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  2. No secret here that I like Disturbed's version of this better, and believe me, no one was more surprised than I was. Listening to the original now, I find that S & G just sound wimpy by comparison.

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    1. Let nobody ever say you don't inspire me from time to time, haha

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