Asylum (Disturbed album)

Untitled

Asylum is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Disturbed. Taking inspiration from other aspects of lead singer David Draiman's life (as well as various world conditions), Asylum is meant to take a fresh direction in the band's music career, while remaining consistent with the band's previous albums. The album was released on August 31, 2010 in the United States through Reprise Records. A tour in support of the album, titled the Asylum Tour, will commence in late August 2010. It debuted at #1 on the American Billboard 200. This is Disturbed's 4th consecutive number one album.

Development

Early stages

In a November 2008 interview, David Draiman briefly talked about the band's fifth studio album, stating that it will be lyrically as dark as their previous album, Indestructible, if not darker. In an earlier interview with Mike Wengren and John Moyer, it was stated that, judging by Draiman's feelings on the last few years of his life, that the new album will be aggressive, angry, and "hard-hitting," but will be similar musically to their album Believe. Wengren also said that the new album may be released in the summer of 2010.

In a July 2009 interview with FaceCulture, Draiman talked more about the upcoming fifth album: "A couple of [song riffs] that Danny has come up with are really amazing. But they're just little pieces...it's not even in two-three part progression [yet]." It was later confirmed that the title of the album would be Asylum.

Recording and production

Song-writing for the album began in late 2009. On February 8, 2010, it was announced that the band had entered the studio in Chicago, Illinois to begin recording their fifth album. Guitarist Dan Donegan stated that the band had written around 15 to 18 songs, and 17 were recorded. On April 20, 2010, roughly two months after they entered the studio, Disturbed announced that they had finished recording the album, and were ready to begin mixing the album in Los Angeles, California. As they did with their last album Indestructible, Disturbed stated that they self-produced Asylum.

Style and lyrical themes

The band's vocalist David Draiman stated in an earlier interview that he wanted Asylum to be a darker album, lyrically, than Indestructible, and mature themes for the album were inspired by several events that took place during Draiman's life in recent years. Draiman described the album as "still identifiably Disturbed, but showing more maturation. We feel this is one of the strongest bodies of work we've ever put together. It definitely goes in familiar areas, but with new levels of precision and skill." Lyrically, Draiman says, "the themes range from very personal and introspective, to the political and provocative." In an interview with Music Vice, Dan Donegan says, "We're definitely not trying to wave the flag here, all we're doing is trying to build a little bit of awareness. If it makes you think about it for a minute and change some of the small things in your life then that's good too."

The album's first official single, titled "Another Way to Die", is about the acknowledgment of global warming. The title track has a dual meaning, with the concept of a person losing a loved one as both an asylum driving the person insane, as well as a place of comfort. The first song on the album, titled "Remnants", is an instrumental which originally was meant to be combined with the song "Asylum" to make a 7:30 long track, but instead it was split into two parts for setting the mood of the album, and for possible appearences on the radio. "Serpentine" is a song intended to be "ethereal and frightening", about a succubus demon woman who "utilizes her sexuality to prey on the weaknesses of men." In the same interview, Draiman pointed out the technical aspects of some songs that include vocals from himself, as well as Wengren, Donegan, and Moyer all at the same time, creating an interplay Draiman described as "gang vocals". Draiman concluded the interview by likening the album as a whole to the film Gladiator for it's "moments of loss, the moments of triumph... struggle... mysticism." "The Animal" is reported to be about an individual turning into a werewolf from the light of the full moon, taking inspiration from several films, such as Underworld and The Wolfman. "The Infection" is another relationship song Draiman wrote, talking about the depression you feel after a break-up, and treating it as if it were an infection, something that is "eating away inside you." The song was described as having a fast guitar riff with melodic vocals and the solo section was described as having an orchestrated feel to it.

In the July 2010 issue of Metal Hammer Magazine, Donegan talked about the B-side "Three": "There's also a song about the West Memphis Three...these kids that came from this Bible Belt town and just because they wore black and listened to heavy metal they were found guilty of murder, even though there was no evidence!" "Crucified" is a song about a relationship of Draiman's that fell apart and the "desperation it brings you to". The song "Never Again" is about the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. Another B-side was mentioned, titled "Mine", a song about religion as a catalyst for war. The song "My Child" is about Draiman impregnating a past girlfriend, and he readied himself mentally for the child, but his girlfriend miscarried and lost the child in the first trimester. A song called "Innocence" talks about "corrupt attorneys and the criminals that they choose to defend." The song "Sacrifice" speaks about how people seem to have two sides to their personality, a light and a dark side, taking inspiration from Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Promotion and release

On July 15, Disturbed released a free download of the song "Asylum" on their official website. On July 19, the song "Asylum" was released in the United States via the iTunes Store. They have also announced an iTunes deluxe version of the album which will include a code to download Decade of Disturbed online for free, and two bonus tracks, titled "Leave It Alone" and "Ishfwilf," the latter of which is a cover of U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". The band also released a limited edition version of Asylum, featuring the Decade of Disturbed DVD and bonus tracks on the CD (live performances of "Down with the Sickness" and "Stricken").

The songs "Asylum", "Another Way to Die" and "The Animal" were released as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band on August 24, seven days before the album's release date. The song "Asylum" has the album opening track, titled "Remnants", attached to it in the game.

On August 16, 2010, the music video for "Asylum" was released on the band's official website and MySpace page. On August 24, the track "Never Again" was available for download on the band's official website, after the band announced the song's release on their Twitter page.

Disturbed is touring in support of Asylum as a headlining act in the Uproar Festival, along with Stone Sour, Hellyeah, and Avenged Sevenfold. The first show of the tour took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Target Center on August 17, with the last show scheduled for Madison, Wisconsin at the Alliant Energy Center Memorial Coliseum on October 4, 2010.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Disturbed

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Remnants"	2:43
2.	"Asylum"	4:36
3.	"The Infection"	4:08
4.	"Warrior"	3:24
5.	"Another Way to Die"	4:13
6.	"Never Again"	3:33
7.	"The Animal"	4:13
8.	"Crucified"	4:36
9.	"Serpentine"	4:09
10.	"My Child"	3:17
11.	"Sacrifice"	4:00
12.	"Innocence"	4:31
13.	"ISHFWILF" (U2 cover hidden track)	5:26
Total length:		52:52

Limited Edition

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Down with the Sickness" (Live)	5:55
15.	"Stricken" (Live)	4:17
Total length:		1:03:04

iTunes Deluxe Edition

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Leave It Alone"	4:06
15.	"Down with the Sickness" (Live)	5:53
16.	"Stricken" (Live)	4:17
Total length:		1:07:08

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76%
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
About.com
Billboard	(Positive)
Entertainment Weekly	B-
Kick-Axe
Rocksound
Rinse Review Repeat
PopMatters
411mania

Asylum has received generally favorable reviews from music critics, averaging a score of 76 on the review aggregate website Metacritic. James Zahn of Kick-Axe gave the album a 4 out of 5, summarizing his review by stating "Admittedly, I've long respected Disturbed as a band, while not considering myself 'a fan.' Asylum has changed that." Also, giving the album a positive review, Merlin Alderslade of Rocksound stated "Asylum won’t set the world alight, but it’s certainly not monotonous enough to send anyone to the madhouse." Gary Graff of Billboard gave Asylum a short and positive review ending with "There are enough brains and brawn to make this an 'Asylum' any head-banger would be crazy to avoid."

Damon Harrison of Rinse Review Repeat said of the band and Asylum that "Disturbed have hit a nail with their hammering aesthetics, finally, and build an aggressive foundation that’s sure to leave both fans critics alike standing firm in their territory." Chris Colgan of PopMatters compared Asylum to Disturbed's previous efforts, remarking how well balanced it is by comparison. He said, "If Ten Thousand Fists is the large tiger of Disturbed’s discography, oversized with more muscle than necessary, and Indestructible is the lean jaguar, fine-cut to just the foundation and essentials, then Asylum is the lion, king of the jungle, perfectly balanced in both core strength and added power to create the purest musical engine for emotional expression."

Ben Czajkowski of 411mania stated about the album, "After five albums, Disturbed has perfected their sound; they might have even become a bit more hard rock than before. Sadly, though, all of the humor that made me fall in love with the band is gone. Replacing it is the darkness of the world, sounds about death, corruption, and depression that come across as a bit uninspired, even though it has perplexed [David] Draiman for the last few years."

On the day of its release, Asylum (Deluxe Edition) topped the iTunes Top Albums and Top Rock Albums chart, and the regular edition of the album ranked #2 on the same charts.

Personnel

• David Draiman – lead vocals, backing vocals, producer
• Dan Donegan – guitar, electronics, backing vocals, producer
• John Moyer – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mike Wengren – drums, percussions, backing vocals, producer

• Ted Jensen - mastering
• Neal Avron – mixing
• Jeremy Parker – engineer
• Nicolas Fournier - mixing assistant
• Rob Gordon - A&R
• Nick Haussling - A&R
• Raymond Swanland – Illustrations
• Donny Phillips - art direction, design
• Travis Shinn - photography
• Ellen Wakayama - art direction

Release history

Region	Date	Distributing label	Format	Catalog
Australia	August 27, 2010	Warner Music Australia	CD and Music download services
Germany	August 27, 2010	Warner
United Kingdom	August 30, 2010	Reprise
Europe	August 31, 2010
United States	August 31, 2010

References

20. ^ http://outune.net/tunemag/rocktune/disturbed-asylum-ecco-il-ritorno-di-draiman-e-compagni.html – Retrieved 2010/08/19

External links

• Official website
• Template:Myspace
• Disturbed on X