The seminal 1960’s song is given a grandstanding and overwrought working over by a heavy metal band not usually associated with subtlety.
Disturbed were previously (mostly) known for Down With The Sickness. A fab but lumpen slab of millennial nu-metal tagged onto the end reel of a George A Romero Zombie remake.
15 years pass and the metal world keeps Disturbed fed and watered and the rest of pop culture ticks on oblivious.
Then almost a year after it’s release, BBC Radio 2 picked up on the cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s hippy ear anthem as a curiosity. An album’s shelf life is short in this day and age. This was not part of the usual plan.
Sound Of Silence is buried deep in the bands sixth album Immortalized. The track wasn’t presented as a novelty. But more a stark surprise.
How could this be? A heavy metal band, with no business being on Radio 2. Mixed in among the ex-boyband members going MOR and icons from 30 years ago? How could they have made a beautiful and captivating cover of such a beloved song? And snuck onto Simon Mayo’s playlist?
People were amazed. ‘That singer can really sing’, ‘They do it so wonderfully’, ‘It sounds like it’s from a West End show’.
All true. But why is it so strange for people to recognise that metal bands can be really good at singing and playing music? It’s. What. They. Do.
Steve For The Deaf 