Out today, Nov. 18, is Divisive, the eighth studio album from Disturbed. The 10-song set is the follow-up to 2018's Evolution, which at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Disturbed recorded the album during February in Nashville with new producer Drew Fulk, who's previously worked with Papa Roach, Motionless in White, Pop Evil, We Came as Romans and others, and Divisive has been advanced by the singles "Hey You," "Unstoppable" and, earlier this week, "Bad Man."
Guitarist Dan Donegan tells us that songwriting for Divisive began during the fall of 2021, while Disturbed was playing some live dates and stopped at producer Fortman's house in Fort Myers, Fla., just to jam and work on some ideas. That got the band — Donegan, frontman David Draiman, bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren — back into the creative mode and ready to record by the time they got to Nashville. Donegan says the goal was to mix classic elements of the Disturbed sound with some of the fresh production techniques Fulk brought to the table: ["I thought the marriage between us and him would be a good one, of us trying to bring back those signature Disturbed elements of the guitar riffs and syncopated drums and getting David (Draiman) back into some of the animalistic sounds out of him, combined with some of the newer, fresher production elements and electronic elements that Drew has done with some of his other artists."] SOUNDCUE (:24 OC . . . his other artists)
"Hey You," which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart after it was released in July, was one of the first things Disturbed worked on and helped put Divisive on track, according to Donegan: ["Definitely 'Hey You' was one of the first ones, the first single off this album. That was one of the riffs that had to be within the first two or three ideas. I think it was actually the first idea. It just came to me. I remember just the groove of the song, the tempo as we were there in Fort Myers…It just came out quit. David can very quickly come up with melodies, too. So it was done very fast."] SOUNDCUE (:31 OC . . . done very fast)
Divisive also features the first duet ever on a Disturbed album, with Heart's Ann Wilson on the track "Don't Tell Me." Draiman has acknowledged that some of his lyrics are influenced by the current political and social climate, including the title track and "Won't Back Down."
With Divisive out Donegan says Disturbed is looking forward to a busy 2023. The group has a few dates already on the books — May 4 in Milwaukee, May 6 in St. Paul, Minn., June 7 at Nova Rock in Austria and the weekend of June 8 at the Download Festival in the U.K. — but he anticipates a Disturbed will be on the road for much of the year, and is looking forward to it: ["Right now the band just wants to get back up there on stage….We want to play this new material. We want to have what was taken from us, from the world, having to be put on pause for the pandemic. So we're ready to hit it. On paper we have dates and an idea; now it's kind of up to management and promoters to help us make it happen. We're just excited to know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel here and get back to where we love being, and that's on stage."] SOUNDCUE (:33 OC . . . that's on stage)
The track listing for Divisive includes:
Hey You
Bad Man
Divisive
Unstoppable
Love to Hate
Feeding the Fire
Don't Tell Me (featuring Ann Wilson)
Take Back Your Life
Part of Me
Won't Back Down
