Heavy metal band Disturbed came together through the matching of a band with a singer. Longtime friends Dan Donegan (guitar), Mike Wengren (drums), and Fuzz (bass) played together in Chicago for some time before hooking up with singer David Draiman around 1997.
Draiman had grown up in a religious family against which he rebelled, being expelled from five boarding schools in his adolescence.
His anger found an outlet in the thrashing sound of Disturbed, and the band built up a following on Chicago's South Side before a demo tape led to their signing to Giant Records, which released their debut album, The Sickness, in March 2000.
The band gained more fans and exposure playing the main stage of the 2001 Ozzfest, then broke away to do their own self-described "victory lap" around the U.S. that fall. Also during this period, they managed to record a vicious new version of wrestler Steve Austin's theme song that was so good it managed to receive radio play, and they were one of the bands announced to work on a high-profile Faith No More tribute album.Disturbed stepped into the studio after stepping off of the road and began work on a new disc that would reflect their growth as a band.
Feeling experimental, the bandmembers worked with producer Johnny K and mixer Andy Wallace in order to create an album that could compare to other classic metal records they admired.
In July 2011, the bandmembers announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus.