When David Draiman of Disturbed sat down to record this timeless piece, he didn't know what would follow his ultimately phenomenal cover of Simon & Garfunkel's timeless song. What inevitably became of this rendition was a harrowing masterpiece of operatic rock, a dramatically wide vocal range, and a classy, yet original, song that would become just as famous as the first version.
What baffles me to this day is Draiman's control over his own voice. I've never been a huge disturbed fan (sans "Down With the Sickness") but I've always enjoyed discovering new vocalists and diving deep into how they sing what they sing. Starting with a somber chest-voice, Draiman opens the song with the reminiscent line, "Hello, darkness, my old friend," and his voice transitions through a hauntingly beautiful melody to the apex of the score where he utilizes a mixed head/chest voice coupled valiantly with a "rocky" vocal fry. Despite Disturbed being a hard rock band that bridges the gap between alternative and metal, if this was the first song you'd heard by them, you'd think they were something completely different. But therein is the beauty of some of the greatest vocalists of our time - being able to control their voice to the point where the seemingly simplistic songs become stunning tales of insane vocal control and descriptive lyrics.
Released on December 7, 2015, the cover hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Digital Songs and Mainstream Rock charts, and is their highest-charting song on the Hot 100 peaking at No. 42. In the key of F#m, the first two verses are almost an entire octave lower than the original and jumped up an octave for the last three verses. His vocal span goes from E2 to A4 (if you care to know the range). In April 2016, Paul Simon endorsed the cover and praised Draiman's cover after revealing their work on Conan. What was already a timeless song, has only been made more timeless, and we have heavy metal band Disturbed - perhaps one of the most unlikely of bands to cover such a beautiful song - to thank for it.
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