Disturbed

With the unexpected breakthrough of their single “Down With the Sickness,” Chicago’s Disturbed suddenly became one of the biggest names in the American nu-metal scene, but they have continued to enjoy widespread popularity ever since, easily transcending that particular musical style’s commercial peak. Disturbed started out as Brawl, in 1994, but changed their name some two years later when new singer David Draiman joined founding members Dan Donegan (guitar), Steve Kmak (bass) and Mike Wengren (drums). The foursome would spend the remainder of the 1990s honing their talents on stage and in rehearsal, while recording demos that eventually got them signed to Giant Records and formed the backbone of 2000’s multi-platinum debut album, 'The Sickness.' Based on this strong showing, Disturbed’s sophomore album, 'Believe' went straight to No. 1 in September of 2002, and the band became a major concert draw, both with Ozzfest and their own 'Music as a Weapon' tour. Bassist Kmak was fired at tour’s end over alleged musical differences and replaced by John Moyer, who debuted on 2004’s 'Ten Thousand Fists' (another chart-topper) and all of the touring that inevitably followed. Personal demons fueled the darker themes explored on 2007’s 'Indestructible,' which earned Disturbed’s first Grammy nomination (for the song “Inside the Fire”) and maintained the band’s momentum until the arrival of their fifth album, and fourth straight No. 1, 2010’s 'Asylum.' A b-sides collection entitled 'The Lost Children' was released in 2011, after which Draiman announced that Disturbed would go on an open-ended hiatus to explore other musical projects. Draiman launched the industrial metal outfit Device, Moyer joined supergroup Adrenaline Mob and Donegan and Wengren branched off with their alt-metal band Fight or Flight. After a few years of outside projects, the band made a surprise return in 2015 with 'Immortalized,' returning to the top of the album chart and yielding much praise and a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance for their cover of "The Sound of Silence." By finding such success with the powerful ballad, that opened the doors for Disturbed to provide a more varied and wide-ranging follow-up on 2018's 'Evolution,' which bowed at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Continuing to thrive as one of hard rock's most consistent acts, the band returned in 2022 with their eighth studio album, 'Divisive.'

 

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