David Draiman: Disturbed’s new songs are “diverse, fresh and powerful” — but the album will take time

David Draiman has offered his most detailed update in months on Disturbed’s next album. On May 30, he wrote on X that he stepped away from the new songs, came back to them, and fell in love with them all over again.

“Diverse, fresh, and powerful. It’ll be some time… but I can’t wait for these songs to see the light of day. I think everyone will be pleasantly… surprised.”

David Draiman

The record will follow 2022’s Divisive. No release date has been set. In April 2025, guitarist Dan Donegan told Rock 100.5 The KATT that Disturbed had tracked “enough for an album” in fall 2024 and were excited about it. They held the full announcement back, putting the focus on The Sickness 25th anniversary tour and a standalone single instead.

That single was I Will Not Break (February 2025) — Disturbed’s first release on their own label, Mother Culture Records, after a long run with Warner. It arrived late in the Los Angeles sessions. Donegan had been listening to late-’90s cassette demos to get back into early Disturbed headspace. The riff’s working title was Cakebread, after a bottle of wine opened in the studio that night.

Draiman has called I Will Not Break a necessary song: about becoming stronger than the forces that constantly try to tear you down.

After the 2025 anniversary tour, Disturbed took a long break. In 2026 they played only two shows: headlining Inkcarceration Festival on July 17 and Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, on July 25. Donegan has not announced 2027 plans yet, saying the band still needs to see where everyone’s heads are at, where they are with the material, and where they are with future touring.

Divisive debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. Disturbed have five No. 1 albums on the all-genre U.S. chart, beginning with Believe in 2002.