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Heavy metal will mutate in a thousand directions, taking on pop, hip-hop, ritual killing and even short hair in their turns. But the truism that the music will never disappear, always finding a new generation of misfit kids to entertain and comfort in its strange way, remains no less obvious in the 21st century. Disturbed are testament. Led by one of those former "maladjusted" teens, singer David Draiman (the veteran of five separate school expulsions), this Chicago-based band's short career has already outlived more mainstream-friendly acts and brief fads for woeful rap-rock and faux grunge. Rooted in the styles of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and their ultra-hard brethren, Disturbed also recalls the fierceness of early Metallica while maintaining fidelity to a belief in making a song's case, then quickly shutting up. (Remember how much Sabbath or Maiden could pack into a three- or four-minute cut? That's what Disturbed do.) Draiman hooked up with band nucleus Dan Donegan (guitar), Mike Wengren (drums) and Fuzz (bass) in the late 1990s; by 2000, Disturbed had signed with Giant, an arm of Warner Bros./Reprise. Their build was similar to many a recent metal band's: after their debut, The Sickness, took off in 2000, they were invited to play the main stage at 2001's Ozzfest. Critical response to all this was good, with the group always praised for its meld of aggression and melody. Two years later, The Sickness was triple platinum, the follow-up, 2002's Believe, was platinum, and Disturbed had their own mini-version of an all-star tour, dubbed Music As a Weapon. Their third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists, was released in the fall of 2005. |
