Review: Disturbed’s ‘CD’ tackles mature themes

Disturbed is back with their fifth studio album, “Asylum,” and the band shows it is a metal band with a conscience.
The first single off Asylum is “Another Way to Die,” featuring front man David Drainman’s signature mix of hard, scratchy vocals and smooth melodic crooning reminiscent of Ed Kowalczyk of Live. But what makes the group sound distinct is its subject material.
“Another Way to Die” is about global warming with lyrics such as: “Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky/ a sign of
devastation coming.”
On a second track, “Never Again,” Drainman goes to his Jewish roots and sings of the Holocaust: “Exterminated by the Nazi war machine/ we will remember/ let the story be told.”
But avid fans shouldn’t worry about their beloved nu-metal band getting too preachy on them. “Asylum” is still packed with songs like “Animal,” which brings to mind the current werewolf craze, and the album’s title track “Asylum,” which is about the mental torture of a breakup.
The album opens with the band’s first instrumental track, “Remnants” which sounds like the intro to a dark Quentin Tarantino film. The track gives guitarist Don Donegan a chance to shine, which he does explosively.