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Concert review: Disturbed
By Francois Marchand
December 3, 2008

CONCERT REVIEW:

DISTURBED

When: Tuesday night

Where: Shaw Conference Centre


EDMONTON - If Edmonton finally got its first cold blast of winter, complete with a fresh coat of powdery snow and the biting wind whipping you sideways, there was at least one place that was burning hot Tuesday evening.

In fact, the Shaw Conference Centre wasn't just burning hot - it was swamped in a heat drenched in sweat and the smell of booze and herb.

Chicago-based alternative metal band Disturbed battered its way into the crowd's subconscious, vocalist David Draiman singing-scatting-rapping-screaming his frustrations and his hopes.

The man has had his fair share of bad experiences in recent past, including his fiance leaving him and other family issues, and there's an augmented edge to his powerful delivery.

It was obvious in the sirens-blaring, Korn-esque title track to their latest release, Indestructible; it was palpable in Disturbed's cover of Genesis' Land Of Confusion; it was ingrained in every word within Prayer ("Living my life's not hard enough/Take everything away"); and it was enough to shear your head off on the band's break-out hit, Stupify.

Metal fans love it when concerts cut to the chase and skip the B.S., and Disturbed kept things lean and very, very mean.