While penning their latest album, "Ten Thousand Fists"--which landed in stores on Tuesday (9/20)--Chicago-based rockers Disturbed [ tickets ] resurrected a time-honored tradition in rock music: the guitar solo.

Axe-slinger Dan Donegan said re-introducing the technique to Disturbed was a natural process.

"When we started writing, we went back to the basics of just kind of jamming out riffs," said Donegan. "That brought us back to some of our influences. It made the songs seem like some of them could use guitar solos. We just thought we would expand on that. We're trying to contribute in our way bringing this element back to rock music."

Calling from his home near Chicago, Donegan explained that, while it was a songwriting necessity, using guitar solos was also a nod toward one of Disturbed's favorite players.

"I think part of it is a tribute to Dimebag," Donegan said, referring to late Pantera guitarist Darrell Abbott, who was gunned down while performing with his band Damageplan in 2004.

liveDaily: You haven't been on a major tour for two years. You must be anxious to get back on the road.

Dan Donegan: Oh yeah. We're dying to get back out there. It's been too long since we've been out there--almost two years. We did a few shows here and there, just a little tease. The last real tour we did was Ozzfest 2003. We did a week of shows last summer just to whet our appetite. We were sick of just writing songs and being home. We wanted to get up on stage for a little bit. So we had to book a few shows. We're just anxious, definitely, to get back out.

Did you work on "Ten Thousand Fists" for most of the past two years?

Pretty much. We had a hard few years of touring ever since [2000's] "The Sickness" came out. It was pretty much nonstop touring for almost two years straight on 'The Sickness,' then a year straight on the [2002] "Believe" record. We were a little burnt out at that point. We came home, took a month or two off. Everybody had some personal things to take care of when we got home. I had a daughter born that winter, 2003. David [Draiman, singer] had bought a house in L.A. He was out there for awhile. There was a little bit of personal stuff going on with everybody. Once we all got settled in and things taken care of, we just started throwing ideas back and forth to each other and got the writing process going.

Tell me about the songwriting process with Disturbed.

It's pretty much always been the same way with us. Usually, I'll come up with the music first, just have some riffs and some ideas. I'll have a rough structure idea that I have in mind. I bring it to Mikey [Wengren, drummer]. We'll work on beats with it. Once we get comfortable with it musically and we have a good vibe for it, I'll usually record it and give it to Dave and let Dave live with it for a bit. We see if it strikes any ideas out of him. He'll bounce his ideas off of that for a little bit.... He sticks to the original version, except for a few changes here and there, depending on his melodies. We'll make a few adjustments. It's just the way we know how to do it. Every now and then, David may have a melody idea that he may throw in and that will spark a riff or a riff idea. He may hum to me an idea every now and then. There have been a couple songs that have been triggered that way.

You worked with producer Johnny K. again. He also produced "The Sickness" and "Believe." What is it like to work with him?

We just have a great relationship with him. We've known him for years. I've known him forever. We grew up in the same area and he went to high school with my oldest brother. I knew him from around. Back in the day, he produced all the local bands' demos. He did our demos when we got signed. We just had this comfortable environment. It didn't really feel like we were going to work; we just felt like we were going over our buddy's place to throw down some ideas and record it. I like that feeling. I like that environment. There's no pressure that way. We don't want to have a sterile environment of going into this studio [and] walking past the receptionist every morning and feel like you're punching the clock.

Is it still an educational experience to work with a producer repeatedly?

Yeah, for sure. I think we all continue to develop and Johnny K. [does], as well. He's done many albums since our first album, ours being his first major release. He's done a wide range of stuff, from Machine Head to--3 Doors Down was the last thing he did before he started this album with us. He's had a lot of experience growing over the last few years just on a professional level. I think we all continue to develop as , as players, as writers and him as a producer. There's definitely some growth from all of us.

Why do you think guitar solos aren't as prevalent in music these days?

I don't know. Ever since the grunge days and this alternative thing, there hasn't been a whole lot of soloing going on. Early on, when we first formed, we had a lot of guitar solos in all the songs. As we were developing, our songwriting--for me, personally--was starting to become more influenced by bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains. Soundgarden, especially, really didn't have any solos. Every so often, they would do something. It was more about the riffs and the grooves. I like the way that was. That's where our earlier stuff was going, instead of branching off in solos. It was trying to branch into another musical piece, a riff that would take you in another direction.

Maybe there's a lack of talent out there, too. [laughs] There probably [aren't] many kids that can play it, I guess. There's a lot more coming out that are starting to shred a lot more. A lot of these hardcore bands like Shadows Fall, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, they've got some great guitar players. They're all strutters and quick players. I think the school that I come from is mainly trying to do stuff that's tasteful, not trying to show off for 20 or 30 seconds of a song. I'm trying to do something more along the lines of what Jerry Cantrell [of Alice in Chains] did, very tasteful. He did what felt right for the song. There were very melodic and memorable solos. Just growing up as a kid, I liked playing air guitar to my favorite guitar players and [it] needed to be something melodic that made you want to act like you were playing it yourself. It's kind of hard to do it if it's all speed, fast playing. I admire the guys that do it and do it well. I have more respect for the players like Jerry Cantrell that do it tastefully.

"Ten Thousand Fists" is much more aggressive than your previous albums. Would you agree?

Probably. When we got together and started throwing around the ideas, I just started bringing out some old riffs I used to play. "Guarded" and "Decadence" are pretty much straight-up, aggressive tracks on the album. Those were the first two ideas I had come up with. That set the tone right off the bat of it being a little bit more aggressive at times. Out of 19 songs that we tracked--14 going on the album--that's a lot of material. We try to give every song its own identity. We don't want to fall in the rut of being a repetitious-sounding band. We don't want every song to sound like "Down with the Sickness" or "Prayer." It's got to be a creative mood. It's got to be its own thing.

The album also carries a theme of politics and religion.

David, he's got a lot of opinions. He's an intelligent, well-spoken guy, well educated. He's got a lot of strong opinions. It's not necessarily him forcing his opinion; it's him expressing his feelings on certain issues. I don't think he's ever going to write a song that's about teenyboppers falling in love. I know he always likes to refer to those love stories as "riding off on their skateboards into the sunset together." I don't think he's ever going to be writing those kinds of lyrics. He's a very intelligent guy with a lot of issues--world issues, political issues, religious issues, relationship issues. These are adult topics. The kids can relate to it too, but we're all adults. He's got topics that strike a chord with him, ones that he wants to get a release on and speak about.

Are you bringing back the multi-act "Music as a Weapon" tour?

There's nothing confirmed. We're hoping to bring it back around next spring or next summer. We definitely want to do something each album cycle, and bring together a big tour and up the production side of things. The first two have been successful tours.