Music / Asylum (Disturbed Album)

Asylum is the fifth studio album by Disturbed, released on August 31, 2010.

The lyrics and sound of the album are very similar to the band's previous album Indestructible, continuing its dark themes while also introducing mythological elements to balance the gritty real-world problems often covered in their songs. Inspirations for tracks on the album include the death of lead singer David Draiman's unborn child, the Holocaust, Dexter, the Jekyll & Hyde-like duality of man, corrupt attorneys, and werewolves.

Asylum spawned several hit singles including "Another Way To Die," "Asylum," "The Animal," and "Warrior."

Not to be confused with the KISS album of the same name.

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Preceded by Indestructible, succeeded by The Lost Children.

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Tracklist:

1. "Remnants" (2:43)
2. "Asylum" (4:36)
3. "The Infection" (4:08)
4. "The Warrior" (3:24)
5. "Another Way to Die" (4:13)
6. "Never Again" (3:33)
7. "The Animal" (4:13)
8. "Crucified" (4:37)
9. "Serpentine" (4:09)
10. "My Child" (3:18)
11. "Sacrifice" (4:00)
12. "Innocence" (4:31)

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In Asylum, relive the tropes:

• Amoral Attorney: "Innocence" is about attorneys who help criminals get away with their crimes. "The suited vulture’s circling."
• And I Must Scream: The ending of "Asylum" has the narrator, who finds himself entering the "asylum" of his lost loved one ("now it's dragging me into your grave") finishing by saying "I will get to join you in time" with a voice screaming "Without you!", meaning that he'll now be staying in the asylum without the one thing he came for.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: "Asylum."
  In asylum (I live a lie)
  Don't you know I'm in love with you
  And I wasn't ready
  For asylum (Relive a lie)
  To let go
  Now it's dragging me into your grave
• Badass Boast: "Warrior." "I am a vessel of invincibility," "Surrender now or be counted \ With the endless masses that I will defeat," "I am a weapon powerful beyond belief," "I never need to question how to defeat you..."
• Breaking the Bonds: On the Asylum's cover art◊, The Guy tears apart his restraints.
• Changing Chorus: "Warrior" has the chorus "I'm the one with the warrior inside / My dominance can't be denied / Your entire world will turn into a battlefield tonight / As I look upon you, through the warrior's eyes now / I can see the fear that will ensure my victory this time". At the very end of the song, this chorus is immediately repeated, albeit changed to "I'm the one with the warrior inside / The evidence can't be denied / The entire world will stare into this battlefield tonight / As I stand before you with a warrior's heart now / I can feel the strength that will ensure my victory this time".
• Darker and Edgier: As the name indicates, Asylum is even darker than Indestructible; with topics ranging from the Nazi Holocaust, corrupt attorneys, miscarriage, global warming, bad relationships, and overall deep depression to fantastic/mystical songs about werewolves and succubus demons, it's no sunshine-and-rainbows record.
• Death of a Child: "My Child" is one of the darker songs on the album... and that's saying something! It opens with an infant laughing and a heartbeat and ends with a flatline.
• Double-Meaning Title: Asylum typically refers to an actual building that houses insane people (this is the interpretation most commonly used by fans and even the official music video for the title song) but it can also mean "refuge" or "safe area" like the kind sought by victims of a tragedy or disaster. Thus the lyrics could be referring to seeking refuge from sorrow and insanity rather than being about a prisoner in a literal madhouse.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: "Serpentine" has a bell toll during the bridge.
• Gaia's Vengeance: In "Another Way To Die," "Mother Earth will show her darker side and take her toll." The vengeance is metaphorical: by ravaging the world, people bring devastation on themselves.

• Heavy Mithril: Asylum dips into this occasionally to contrast with the more serious tracks about real world issues. "The Animal" seems to be about a werewolf transformation and "Serpentine" evokes images of a succubus.
• Jekyll & Hyde: "Sacrifice" is said to be inspired by this trope.
• Laughing Mad: "Asylum" features deranged laughter, being a Sanity Slippage Song.
• Miscarriage of Justice: The topic of "Innocence".
  Their defenders ready to
  Embrace their lies
  With their devious smiles
• Mundanger: Asylum focuses much more heavily on real world problems compared to previous albums. "Asylum", "The Infection" and "Crucified" are about lost loves and bad relationships. "Another Way to Die" is about mass pollution and its toll on the earth. "Never Again" is about The Holocaust and people who deny it. "My Child" is about the sudden death of an unborn child. "Innocence" is about the corrupt legal system and the judges and lawyers who profit off of it. Not a whole lot of hope or positivity on this one...
• Our Werewolves Are Different: "The Animal" jumps between loss of control and enjoying the transformation (or enjoying the loss of control). The narrator warns his victim to run.
  Time to shed the mortal disguise
  For the beast is coming to life
  Taking form in the glimmer of this tainted moonlight

• Succubi and Incubi: "Serpentine", which is about the sort of manipulative women who use their sexual prowess to prey on vulnerable men seems to portray them as this.
• Survivor Guilt: If "Remnants" is to be interpreted as the last moments of the loved one's life as they died, the narrator's line about "No remnants were ever found of it" probably means that he's the only one who knows about her death.^note She's specified as female near the end.

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