Songfacts®:

• This is the title track from American heavy metal band Disturbed's fifth studio album. Lead singer David Draiman explained to Artist Direct that the song "deals with the memory of a lost loved one driving you to the brink of insanity, yet that memory is a haven for you. It's also a safe place that you go to hide in. So while you're trapped within the memory on a certain level, you don't want to be set free of it."
• The opening instrumental "Remnants" segues into this cut. Disturbed bassist John Moyer told Artist Direct the two tracks were originally written as one song. He explained: "Really, it's all one song. That's the initial way it was written, and that's how you're supposed to listen to it with 'Remnants' going right into 'Asylum.' However, we realized there was a point there where we could separate the two tracks if someone doesn't want to listen to the beginning instrumental section and instead go right to the aggressive part. To us, it's one song, and we perform it that way live. It's from the mastermind of Dan Donegan! He's a great songwriter; he wanted to start somewhere different for us. He has no intention of writing the same song twice. You're never going to hear us write another 'Down With The Sickness.' In his quest to expand what we do as a band, this is a natural progression. We've never done a song with a slow beginning that kicked into this aggressive metal epic. It takes you on a journey, and that was Dan's goal writing it. Lyrically, it was one of the first songs that David was inspired by. It sets the tone for the record and the live show. In our show, we're incorporating aspects of video and imagery that we've never done before. We're trying to take what people think they know about Disturbed to the next level. It's something we've never done before and our audience has never seen us do. 'Asylum' really lends itself well to that."
• Asylum was Disturbed's fourth consecutive studio album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, a feat achieved by only two other rock groups in history: Metallica and the Dave Matthews Band.
• David Draiman told Music Choice that the album grew out of the "perfect storm of misery that preceded it." His fiancée broke up with him, his best friend betrayed him in a business deal, and he had to put down his beloved dog, who suffered from osteosarcoma.
  
  "It just created this downward spiral of depression, and that was when I penned 'Asylum,' 'The Infection,' and 'Crucified' off this record - all dealing with very close personal subject matter," he explained. "It spooked the guys to the extent that Danny called me after the third song was written and he's like, you know, 'Are you okay?' And truth be told, I wasn't. It was a tough time, but that's what these records have always been for me is a very pure form of catharsis. A means of venting, a means of manifesting the demons inside of you and forcing them to be exorcised."
  
• The cover art for the album features the band's shrouded mascot, The Guy, howling with clenched fists and flaming eyes. It was designed by Raymond Swanland, one of many artists to render the creepy character. Draiman told Metal Underground, "It's our favorite rendition of the guy that we've seen thus far. It's more frightening and much more visceral, much more demonic looking. We love it. It's very striking."
• In the Robert Schober-directed music video, a man is committed to a mental institution against his will and endures horrific treatment. While straitjacketed, he manages to escape the sadistic orderlies by crawling into a fiery furnace. The clip was shot at an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood, the same location used in Metallica's "All Nightmare Long" video.