#CONAN SOUND OF SILENCE FULL#

#CONAN SOUND OF SILENCE FULL#

The song “Darkness” from the band’s 2002 album “Believe” comes to mind where this gentler side is put on full display. I always knew Draiman had some range and softness to offset the animalistic growls and howls he would showcase often in most of the band’s discography. Initially, my thoughts were, “I hope this is a slow-burn kind of track where the vocals are upped little by little, and there are some strings involved.” Even though this is how it unfolded, I couldn’t have imagined each transition into the next frame of the song being so seamless and effortless.

I didn’t know where things were headed but within the first ten seconds, I knew this had potential to be special if executed properly. This wasn’t exactly leading into the most anticipated track on the album well in my eyes.Īnd then I heard the gentle piano intro of their version of “Sound of Silence” begin to play, followed by Draiman’s haunting, low-key vocals. I was getting super nervous around the tenth track, arguably the worst song the band has put out called “Fire It Up” where it’s just about Draiman talking about smoking weed after a long day’s work. It wasn’t necessarily a bad album, just nothing super surprising. Listening to the album track by track, let’s just say it wasn’t the band’s best effort. That’s how much of a classic the 1964 original version by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is. I remember thinking, “Okay, I’ve always liked ‘Disturbed’ for the most part, but if they get this wrong it could shift my opinion of them considerably in the opposite direction.” To my surprise, and initial horror, I saw “Sound of Silence” posted near the tail-end of the track list for the record, 11th overall.

I remember glancing at the track-list when it dropped, looking for if they would be covering a song (like they did on their first self-titled album, “Tears for Fears” track “Shout” which they renamed “Shout 2000”, and on “Ten Thousand Fists” with the rendition of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion”). Due mainly to the fact that the band was returning from a five-year hiatus, one which saw lead singer David Draiman form a side band called “Device”, who produced one album and a couple solid songs (“Out of Line” with Serj Tankian, front man for “System of a Down”, and “Opinion” with guitarist Tom Morello from “Rage Against the Machine” and “Audioslave” are bangers), but that’s about it. At the time leading up to it, there was considerable excitement surrounding the album’s release. Ten days ago, Disturbed’s album “Immortalized” turned six years old. Over half a decade later, the audacity and confidence in which the once labeled “nu-metal” band from Chicago, “Disturbed”, tackles the seemingly untouchable “Sound of Silence” from Simon & Garfunkel, remains simply incredible.

Conan sound of silence