For their fourth album Indestructible, Disturbed frontman David Draiman asked his bandmates to supply him with their "darkest, nastiest, (most) aggressive" music yet -- the better to bolster his lyrics about bad relationships, motorcycle crashes, drug addiction, depression and suicide.

And even though they rose to the challenge -- crafting what reviewers agree is the darkest and, uh, most disturbed disc in the band's history -- it somehow wound up being one of their most empowering, too.

"There were a couple of struggles, a couple of streaks of bad luck in (David's) life that he wanted to find some therapy for, and we knew we wanted to give him the music that would inspire him to write that," says guitarist Dan Donegan from a tour stop in North Dakota. "But even when we touch on those darker subjects, we still want to shed light on something and spin it in a positive way, and make you feel better about yourself, or more powerful."

One of the disc's darkest tracks, the controversial first single Into the Fire, was inspired by the suicide overdose of a girlfriend Draiman had as a teenager. The singer was reportedly haunted by nightmares for years, and was recently quoted saying he wrestled with demons who tried to convince him to follow her lead.

"It's a strong subject, and one you don't hear too much about, since people don't rely touch on it much," says Donegan of the tune. "But (David) wanted to get some release, and we've had an overwhelming response from people who can relate to it. Even me, on a personal level, I had an uncle who committed suicide, and a couple of friends. And there have been a lot of people who've sent MySpace messages to us about how (the song) has helped them through difficult times, and they can relate to it, too."

On the flipside, the album's title track is a rousing ode-to-empowerment written specifically for American troops serving overseas.

"Throughout the years, we've had many fighting men and women come to our shows and say that our music has inspired them when they go into battle," says Donegan. "So it was directly written for them as kind of an anthem, or a fight song to empower them. But at the same time, an athlete could also relate to that, or anyone who's looking for that adrenaline rush or burst of power."

Released back in June, Indestructible is the first Disturbed album to be entirely self-produced by the band. After three albums with longtime producer Johnny K., Donegan and his bandmates felt confident they could be left to their own devices to in the studio.

"We hold these songs really close to us," Donegan explains. "So I'm a little stubborn when it comes to allowing other people in to tell us how our music should be. Even though it can be good to have someone come in with a fresh ear, who's never heard the songs before ... it's hard to listen to someone who's only heard it for five minutes, when we've been living with it for months."

The gamble paid off, as the album was the third consecutive Disturbed disc to debut at No. 1 on the charts. So far, only six other bands in history have pulled off the same feat: Van Halen, Pearl Jam, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Staind and Metallica.

"I don't want to sound pompous, but we're perfectionists when it comes to writing, recording and touring," says Donegan. "A lot of bands make the mistake of coming up with one or two singles, and that's enough. We take longer because we want to make a great album. Maybe it's old-school thought, but I wish there were more albums out there that people could look back at the way they do Appetite for Destruction, Back in Black or Master of Puppets. Hopefully, we've put out an album people will look back at the same way."