Can you separate the art from the artist? This question arises in the realm of music from time to time, particularly when certain artists prove to be more controversial than their music initially led us to believe. It’s one thing to find out that your favorite metal band’s singer is a raving alcoholic or a heroin addict; in fact, knowing that the artist had had to battle these sorts of personal demons in order to create his masterpieces may even lead to a deeper appreciation of the art. Then, it’s another ball game entirely when you find out your favorite artist openly supports killing people or something equally horrible. Sure, the music should still be able to stand on its own and have its intrinsic meaning. Still, things become substantially more problematic when the art itself condemns such behavior – in song lyrics, for example. It’s hard not to think: what a fucking hypocrite! The sixth studio album, “Immortalized,” released on August 21st, 2015, via Reprise, by American nu-metal act DISTURBED, has proved an especially hard nut to crack in this respect, considering the band’s frontman’s politically charged public stunts of late, like the signing of artillery shells for the IDF in Israel in 2024. What makes it even more so is the fact that this is the very album to feature THAT cover rendition of “The Sound of Silence,” the Simon & Garfunkel hit from the 1960s. In retrospect, the song’s message about how the lack of meaningful communication drives humanity apart seems completely lost on Mr. Draiman. I mean, bombing people is not exactly the kind of meaningful communication the song makes me think about. The song, as well as the album as a whole, was met with rather mixed reviews back in the day. Now, revisiting the album after 10 years, it still does elicit mixed reactions for myriad reasons, not only Draiman‘s personal convictions. The album has a good few banging riffages, but also a few too many fillers, to be honest. It is by far less cohesive than, say, “10,000 Fists,” released in 2005, on which the band found the perfect balance between the dark and light.
If I could still listen to that Simon & Garfunkel cover without all the extra weight, I would say it’s not half as bad as the haters have claimed it to be. I do recall how this cover rendition triggered some people to the point of accusing DISTURBED of butchering the song. Of course, it’s not just as magical as the original, but I would like to point out that the original song has had the advantage of growing on us for multiple decades. Hey, I first heard it as a kid in the 1970s! The fact that it is by far the best song on the album is something else to think about completely. Way too many album tracks sound a bit bland and generic, with “You’re Mine” and “Open Your Eyes” being probably the most forgettable of the bunch. It is quite peculiar, because the band had taken 5 years (!) to craft this album after 2010’s “Asylum.” Apparently, it was not exactly a time well spent.
There are a couple of songs that live up to the high standards of the band’s earlier classics – the beefy title track and “The Vengeful One.” You could call them instant classics in the DISTURBED framework, even. That said, the lyrics in “Immortalized” do come off slightly too much like some Zionist power fantasies, now that we all know Draiman‘s political stance. So, thanks for ruining that song for me. I just need to make this clear: bombing people is not cool, and this is a rather strong and widely shared moral intuition that seems totally lost on the band’s frontman. Signing artillery is pretty fucking inappropriate in any context, let alone genocide. It is not a difference of opinion, but a difference of morality. During the recent BLACK SABBATH concert in Birmingham, Draiman‘s appearance was not exactly welcomed with unequivocal enthusiasm because of these stunts, but the way he handled the backlash only made it worse. He pulled the Anti-Semitism card and told the critics to suck it up, and then posted this rant on Instagram: “I won’t be deterred, intimidated, or shamed out of rocking the asses of the masses. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” I would like to think that you could support Gaza without supporting Hamas, as well as criticise Israel without being anti-Semitic. Empathy isn’t allegiance. These positions are not binary or mutually exclusive. Maybe it comes as a surprise to Mr. Draiman that you can hold complexity, conscience, and compassion, all at once, as someone commented on Draiman‘s emotional meltdown on social media. There is a legitimate psychological term for people who exhibit such a devastating lack of self-reflection, but I think I’ll go with the more vernacular word in this case; there is no polite way to say it, so I’ll just put it how it is – Draiman has proved himself a major douchebag. Too bad he seems hellbent on pissing away his band’s legacy with his bullshit. He also makes it pretty damn hard to enjoy the band’s music because the message of the songs is in such stark contrast with his stupid behavior. That’s just plain sad, really. So, about the question of whether it is possible to separate the art from the artist – in this case, it’s pretty fucking impossible.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- The Eye of the Storm
- Immortalized
- The Vengeful One
- Open Your Eyes
- The Light
- What Are You Waiting For
- You’re Mine
- Who
- Save Our Last Goodbye
- Fire It Up
- The Sound of Silence
- Never Wrong
- Who Taught You How to Hate
Lineup
David Draiman – vocals
Dan Donegan – guitars
John Moyer – bass
Mike Wengren – drums
Label
Reprise Records
