Indestructible (Disturbed album)

After touring in support of the band's previous album, Ten Thousand Fists, the band took a break. During this time, drummer Mike Wengren got married, and guitarist Dan Donegan had a child. In February 2007, after the break was over, the band went to Groovemaster Studios in Chicago, Illinois and began writing music. Indestructible is Disturbed's first self-produced effort, without Johnny K acting as producer, as he did on the band's previous albums, The Sickness, Believe, and Ten Thousand Fists. Early in the writing process, Donegan created guitar riffs. The rest of the band then listened to the riffs, and wrote the rest of the music, with the riffs being the base. As Donegan commented, "The writing process is ... pretty much the same since the beginning ... of this band. It's always been riffs; something musically that I'll come up with [that begins the writing process]." However, the song did not make it into the final track listing of the album, This version of "Midlife Crisis" later appeared on The Lost Children, the band's first compilation album. One song, titled "Emptiness", was never fully recorded ever by the band. ==Title==

Indestructible took the longest amount of time to title when compared to Disturbed's previous records, according to Wengren. The band had originally wanted to title the record The Night, because it was the first track to be completed, and it defined the musical direction the band wanted to use with Indestructible. The record had a song whose working title was Defend, but it eventually was re-titled "Indestructible". When the title was changed, the band felt the title had, as Donegan reasoned, "made a bigger statement". Draiman said they titled the record Indestructible because the title "... kind of symbolizes the fact that we're still fucking here, that we haven't been destroyed, that we withstood the test of time." Regarding the choice of the title, Moyer commented, "Usually there's some name or phrase that sort of sums up, you know, what the vibe of the record's about, so this one's Indestructible, and it is an aggressive record, this record's about kicking ass." Donegan, commenting on the meaning of the title, stated, "We feel that we've become indestructible to be able to survive this long in the business, and continuing a success with it." Draiman concluded, "We have been through a lot. No matter what gets thrown at us, as a band, no matter what happens in the musical environment, we're still here, we're still viable, and still standing." ==Musical style and lyrical themes==

{{Listen Vocalist David Draiman states that, lyrically, the album was inspired by various occurrences of bad luck that happened to him. "I had a motorcycle accident, and I had my garage burn down with most of my vehicles," Draiman commented. "... I've had really bad relationships that I've been in and out of. They've left their mark", Draiman says the track "Divide" "is meant to detract from the idea 'oh, let's all be one, let's all be united!' Fuck that, be yourself, be an individual, stand out, make your mark, make an impact." Dan Marsicano of 411mania commented on the song "Perfect Insanity", claiming it has "...a short but sweet shredding solo, double bass drum work, and fast picked riffing...". ==Promotion==

{{Listen The marketing campaign for Indestructible began in late 2007, with a strategy of releasing content for fans early and often. Promotion began with distributing stickers at live events. Reprise Records also partnered with Hot Topic retailers, who thereafter put an Indestructible album teaser on all Disturbed merchandise, and eventually began selling a limited edition 7" vinyl record with two songs from the album on it. In March 2008, Disturbed performed a concert in Kuwait for the United States military stationed there. The concert was streamed live on MySpace, and more than three million people viewed it. In February 2008, an audio sample was posted on Disturbed's MySpace profile to promote Indestructible. The sample, titled "Perfect Insanity", is actually a song written early in the band's career that never previously appeared on an album, but was expected to appear on the album. The track was later made available for download, in its entirety, on Disturbed's website for promotional purposes. Another sample, titled "Inside the Fire", appeared on Rock on the Range's MySpace profile in March 2008. On March 24, 2008 "Inside the Fire" debuted on more than sixty radio stations. It was released for digital download the next day. On May 2, 2008 the music video for "Inside the Fire" debuted on Disturbed's website. In April 2008, a limited edition pre-order digipak of Indestructible was made available for order exclusively through Disturbed's website. Another special edition pre-order of the album was on iTunes Music Store, and featured three live bonus tracks, as well as the entire album. Yet another pre-order of the album allowed customers who pre-ordered the album through Best Buy retailers to download the two songs, "Inside the Fire", and "Indestructible" as playable content on the video game Rock Band. Three songs from Disturbed's first online concert performance at DeepRockDrive were mastered and featured on the EP Live & Indestructible. On August 20, 2008 a music video directed by Noble Jones for the album's third single and title track, "Indestructible", was posted on Disturbed's website. The single was released digitally on September 29, 2008, and the music video was officially available for purchase the next day, packaged with the EP Live & Indestructible. and it was released in late March 2009. ==Critical reception==

Critical reception for Indestructible was mixed. Being the first self-produced effort by the band, they had more leeway to create music without any outside interference, suggests 411mania writer Dan Marsicano. He concludes that the self-production also led to a lack of guidance, though, which ultimately works against the album, rather than helping it. Guitarist Dan Donegan's guitar work was praised, and About.com writer Chad Bowar notes many songs on the album are guitar-driven. AllMusic writer James Monger praised Indestructible, suggesting that rather than taking melodic elements from acts like Pantera, like Disturbed's previous records are suggested to, the album takes musical elements from acts such as Metallica or AC/DC. Kaz also finds, "The tunes are largely similar in style and structure ... In essence, there's very little that stands out." He goes on to say that the album already seems obsolete, "There's just too much of the very recent past on Indestructible to move away from it. So in effect, it sounds a bit dated ... already." It is also suggested that, although possessing a reliably solid foundation, the album lacks a meaning behind its drive: "They wind up sounding a little lost on Indestructible, stabbing their weapons without any reasons behind each parry," says PopMatters writer Andrew Blackie. ==Commercial performance==

Indestructible shipped over 253,000 units in its opening week. It is also Disturbed's third consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and remain in the top ten for five weeks, making Disturbed one of six bands to ever achieve three consecutive number one debuts. "Inside the Fire" was also nominated for a 2009 Grammy award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. The title track, "Indestructible", also reached number one on Mediabase's Active Rock chart, making it Disturbed's second number one song on that chart in 2008. ==Track listing==

{{Track listing The three bonus tracks, "Run", "Parasite" and "Midlife Crisis" are included on the band's B-side compilation The Lost Children. ==Charts==

Album Singles ==Certifications==

Disturbed • David Draiman – lead vocals • Dan Donegan – guitars, electronics • John Moyer – bass, backing vocals • Mike Wengren – drums, percussion Production • Dan Donegan – production • David Draiman – production • Mike Wengren – production • Tadpole – engineering, Pro Tools • Justin Wilks – assistant engineering • Cameron Webb – Pro Tools • Neal Avron – mixing • Nick Fournier – mixing • Ted Jensen – mastering • Joey Lawrence – photography • David Finch – cover illustration • Matt Taylor – art direction and design '''The Making of Indestructible DVD''' • Directed by Rafa Alcantara • Produced by Adam Cook and Twentyfourcore Productions • Production assistant – Dan Fusselman • Edited by JT Smith and Rafa Alcantara • DVD post producer – David May • DVD associate producer – Raena Winscott • DVD Authoring – Jim Atkins for Media Services ==References==