Indestructible

Well over a decade into their collective career, David Draiman (vocals), Dan Donegan (guitar), John Moyer (bass) and Mike Wengren (drums) are still churning out one unrelenting rock album after the other. In the wake of 2000's 'The Sickness' and 2005's 'Ten Thousand Fists' comes the justifiably titled 'Indestructible'.

Their live shows may be as dubious as Draiman's facial hair, but the Chicago-based quartet are a veritable rock behemoth when it comes to recorded material. The menacing lead singer recently hailed their musical style as "more hard rock than heavy metal these days", driving the final nail into the coffin of their wavering metal-fan following and welcoming into the fold a whole new spectrum of listeners.

With coercion and pleasantries aside, Draiman and fellow architects of aggression dive head first into the title track with scintillating drumming and blatantly intimidating lyrics.

Thereafter the darkness continues with 'Deceiver' and 'The Night' — the former employing a Korn-esque intro and the latter announcing its arrival with some spine-chilling guitaring.

Hit single 'Inside The Fire' sees the intriguing use of electronica followed by a depressing tale of a relationship Draiman once endured with a heroin addict and how he learnt of her eventual suicide; choice lyrics and song structure exemplifying dear David and the rest of the band's macabre approach to the travesty.

Crusading on the back of at times predictable intros and chugging guitar solos, Disturbed seethe their way through a 12-track epic suitable only for desensitised ears and hardened hearts. 'Haunted' is by far the most unsettling of the lot, Draiman's chilling spoken word enough to question the wits of even the most resolute soul.

'Perfect Sanity', 'Criminal', 'Divide' and a couple of other formulaic tracks make up the numbers before 'Façade' closes proceedings with Donegan and Wengren working overtime to prolong the inevitable.

In a scene littered with distasteful experimentation and countless attempts to morph genres, the stalwart foursome have stuck to their guns and spawned yet another safe album worthy of positive acclaim. Fancy something progressive? This isn't it.