Disturbed

One of the most successful metal bands of the past 30 years, alongside other stalwarts of metal such as Godsmack and Slipknot, Disturbed has made its mark with their fans and on the charts during their remarkably successful run. To date, Disturbed has sold more than 17 million records around the world, a notable feat in today’s age of digital downloads.

Origins

Founded in 1994 in Chicago, Disturbed consisted of vocalist David Draiman, drummer Mike Wengren, guitarist/keyboardist Dan Donegan, and bassist Steve Krnak who was replaced in 2003 by John Moyer. Draiman joined the band in 1996, which at that time had not settled on an official name. Draiman came up with “Disturbed” as it symbolized everyone’s feelings at the time and the name stuck.

After Draiman was hired and the name of the band made official, they recorded a couple of three-track demo tapes which consisted of six songs in total. One of the songs, “Down with the Sickness” inspired the title of their debut album The Sickness which was released in 2000. The album was an immediate smash, eventually selling over 4 million copies.

Rise

With a massive hit on their hands, Disturbed quickly went on tour and garnered a huge fanbase. This led to their second album, Believe, which was released in 2002, and made its debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It was during this time that Krnak left the band due to “personal differences”. He was replaced by Moyer which directly to their third album, Ten Thousand Fists in 2005.

Health issues with Draiman delayed the European tour, but after some time recuperating, he was back in the studio to record their fourth studio album, Indestructible. The album and the following tour may be the highlight of Disturbed’s remarkable run. The massive worldwide touch combined with the well-regarded album managed to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance of the song, “Inside the Fire”.

Asylum was released in 2010, but Disturbed’s following tour was cancelled due to Draiman suffering from a serious throat condition. By the following year, the band announced that it would go on hiatus to do personal projects. Rumors that the band was having internal disagreements were quashed by Draiman, although it was clear that the strain on his voice and health were an issue.

Today

By 2015, Disturbed had returned from their self-imposed hiatus to and released the album, Immortalized. John Moyer did not play on the album nor does he appear in “The Vengeful One”, the first music video released from the album. Although he is still regarded as a band member having appeared in the promotional material.

It might be argued that Disturbed never faded, it has only charged along as one of the relatively few bands that continues to chart highly with new albums after more than 20 years. However, the 20^th Anniversary Tour of The Sickness had to be postponed due to COVID-19. But that has not stopped Disturbed from continuing to record songs and staying as active as possible.