Credit: Travis ShinnDisturbed's new album Immortalized debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. While that may be typical for the band -- whose last five records have debuted at the top spot on the chart -- Immortalized features one of their most atypical songs: a sweeping, orchestral cover of Simon & Garfunkel's folk classic "The Sound of Silence."
"We all realized the gravity of that decision," Disturbed frontman David Draiman tells ABC Radio of the choice to cover "The Sound of Silence." "You're attempting to do a take on something that is so classic and so huge that many would view it as being rather untouchable."
While Disturbed is familiar with out-of-left-field covers -- their version of Genesis' "Land of Confusion" reached number-one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart -- their "The Sound of Silence" cover is unlike anything they've ever done.
"I thought initially that we were gonna do what Disturbed typically does to covers: make them more aggressive, more upbeat, more like us," Draiman explains. "And it was actually [guitarist] Dan [Donegan's] suggestion to not go in that direction. He was like, 'You know what? Let's keep it ambient and ethereal and acoustic.' And I was hesitant because that's how it was written, and how are we gonna outshine that? And then I thought to myself, 'You know, maybe we don't need to outshine it, maybe we just need to pay homage to it and honor it."
The cover was then built around a piano arrangement written by producer Kevin Churko. As for the vocals, Draiman decided to tackle "The Sound of Silence" using just his lone voice, instead of following the song's signature harmonies.
"We didn't know if I should layer it with overdub harmonies or whatever the case may be," he says. "And you know what? We thought, 'Why not let the purity of the single vocal distinguish our version,' as opposed to it being so layered. And to me it works."
After three hours of vocal tracking, which Draiman says is the longest tracking session of his career, Churko and Draiman sat down to listen to the results together for the first time.
"I played it three times without saying anything to [Churko], and he got really nervous. He was like, 'Aw, he doesn't dig it,'" Draiman tells ABC Radio. "And truth be told I was sitting behind the control desk and I was tearing up, because I hadn't allowed myself to be that vulnerable in a very, very long time, to show that side of my voice. And it was nice to know that it was still there."
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