Disturbed just started to make their impact on the music scene at the turn of the century, but like many heavier acts of the day they got lumped in with the nu metal movement of the time. Singer David Draiman says in a new interview he never really understood the band's inclusion under the nu metal umbrella.

Speaking to Music Connection, Draiman explained, "The nu metal thing I never got because we never rap, we’ve never had a turntable. All of the elements that are parts of being a nu metal band were never part of what we did. But we came up at the same time as those guys were enjoying a tremendous amount of success so we got slapped with that label."

He continues, "If we had come up during the time [Iron] Maiden and [Judas] Priest were dominating things in the mid-‘80s, I don’t think there would be any question how we would be identified."

These days Disturbed have outgrown the nu metal label and have evolved significantly in the last few year years. Their Evolution album is the most diverse work of their career, giving fans more melodic and heartfelt moments to go alongside the band's hard rocking anthems.

"At this point, I don’t know that the label is all that important, but I know that there are plenty of bands -- whether they’re rock, hard rock or metal -- that explore new territory," says Draiman. "This was a change of direction that felt so gratifying. We went with it and ended up producing material that is, in our opinion, some of the best stuff we’ve ever written. That’s all you can try to do."

We're in agreement, as Disturbed's Evolution album made our 30 Best Hard Rock Albums of 2018. See where they placed in our list below.

30 Best Hard Rock Albums of 2018

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