Believe

by Marcel Anders (15.09.2002) Their debut, "The Sickness" was a true shell that bursted for energy, power and force and that was one of the best albums of the NuMetal genre. Yet, from that, the boys around David Draiman are miles away. Maybe it's due to the pressure of the 2,5 million sold copies, maybe due to the almost 2 years of touring or due to the high ambitions of the Chicago quartet. Because where on the debut was a refreshing vitality and naivity (e.g. in the handling of Tears For Fears "Shout"), we now get a lot of pathos, boredom and monotony. Most of the tracks remind me of a calculated mixture of Creed, Tool and Godsmack, the riffs are just too pale and David's once so cynical lyrics are full of platitudes, religious metaphors and an unbelievable arrogance. Who would otherwise call himself the messiah and sell his sound the light in the darkness? That is clearly too much at one time, too artificial and in bad taste. There was a lot of potential in this band that could have achieved a lot - if only they wouldn't take themselves so serious.