Already Gone

During the writing for Evolution, vocalist David Draiman saw several of his contemporaries lose their lives, including Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell and Vinnie Paul. Their passing hit Draiman hard and he wrote this song about being tired of celebrating death. He explained to Louder Sound it's about "wishing you had more time, shocked that they left so soon, wondering if the mythology and the theology is correct and you will get to see them again."

Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan shared his memories of Vinnie Paul and Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, whom the band dedicated their Ten Thousand Fists album to after he was gunned down during a 2004 performance, in an interview with Detroit radio station 101 WRIF. He said: "Vinnie was a great guy. We were close with Vinnie and Dimebag, and all of us in Disturbed went out to the funeral. It was tough. It's still hard to accept that as a reality. The one thing I can take away from it was the last time I'd seen him, I hugged him and said, 'Love you brother,' and we left thinking that I'd see him again [soon]. I felt like at least I have a good last memory of having a drink at a hockey game and giving him a hug and telling him I love him. It's a tough one. We've known these guys, obviously, they've been a big inspiration for us growing up, but then we became close with them in 2000 when we did our first Ozzfest and Pantera was on it. After every show, Vinnie and Dime would invite us back to their dressing room to come hang out, have drinks and party with them. We were just, like any new band at the time, starstruck. They just treated us like we were longtime childhood friends. Any time we crossed paths with them, it was always welcoming with open arms. It's a sad reality to accept to think that two of the greatest metal legends are taken from us."

Evolution, which debuted at #4 in the US, ended the band's streak of #1 albums. The last time they missed the mark was with their debut, The Sickness in 2000. Overall, they had five albums debut at #1.