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In an earlier interview, David Draiman briefly talked about the band's fifth studio album, stating that the album will be as dark as their previous album, Indestructible, if not darker. Draiman also stated that the album is "still identifiably Disturbed, but showing more maturation."

Song-writing for the fifth studio album began in late 2009. In an earlier interview with Mike Wengren and John Moyer, it was stated that, judging by Draiman's feelings on the last few years of his life, that Disturbed's new album will be aggressive, angry, and "hard-hitting", but will be similar musically to their album Believe. Wengren also said that the new album may be released in the spring or summer of 2010. Additionally, Draiman has confirmed that a DVD is in the works. A countdown clock appeared on the band's website, which ended on January 12, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. EST, and a trailer for the upcoming DVD, titled Decade of Disturbed, was revealed.

In an interview in July 2009, with FaceCulture, Draiman stated that the upcoming DVD will be "chronicling the past decade of Disturbed's existence. It's meant to show our growth over the course of the decade." He also talked more about the upcoming fifth album: "A couple of [song riffs] that Danny has come up with are really amazing. But they're just little pieces...it's not even in two-three part progression."

A few months later on March 23, 2010, the band released a reissue of their debut album, The Sickness, with the B-side tracks "God of the Mind" and "A Welcome Burden", updated artwork, as well as remastering and remixing the track list. It was also available for the first time in vinyl format. On February 26, 2010, Harmonix announced a second Disturbed pack for download on the Rock Band music store, containing the 2010 remastered versions of "Voices", "The Game", and "Meaning of Life".

On February 8, 2010, it was announced that the band had entered the studio in Chicago, Illinois to begin recording their fifth album, tentatively set for a summer 2010 release. Guitarist Dan Donegan stated that the band had written around 15 to 18 songs. It was later confirmed that the title of the album is Asylum. The band released a cover of heavy metal band Judas Priest's song "Living After Midnight" for the Metal Hammer Presents... Tribute to British Steel album.

On April 20, 2010, roughly two months after they entered the studio, Disturbed announced that they had finished recording the album, and were ready to begin mixing the album in Los Angeles, California. As they did with their last album Indestructible, Disturbed stated that they self-produced Asylum. The band has announced that Asylum will be released on August 31, 2010. On July 9, 2010, the track listing was revealed on the band's official website. Asylum debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200.

Disturbed headlined the first annual "Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar" tour with Avenged Sevenfold, as well as Stone Sour, Hellyeah and Halestorm, among others in late summer 2010. Then, in October 2010, it was reported that David Draiman was diagnosed with a "serious throat condition", and the band's U.S. tour had been canceled, as Draiman's healing process could have taken up to four weeks. Around the end of that year, Disturbed had announced that they would be commencing the Music as a Weapon V tour in 2011, co-headlining with Korn and guests Sevendust, In This Moment and Stillwell. In January 2011 it was announced that Disturbed would be headlining the Mayhem Festival, along with Godsmack and Megadeth, for the summer of 2011. February 2011, it was announced that Disturbed would be playing the Download Festival. Disturbed announced that in May 2011, they will be co-headlining the Rock on the Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

The band was added to the 2011 MTV Musical March Madness tournament. Defeating former champions Coheed and Cambria, they advanced to the final four but lost to the eventual champions Green Day by a 0.34 margin.
On Thursday, April 28, Disturbed announced that their previously unreleased bonus track off of the Asylum, titled "3", would be available for download off of their website. They said that all proceeds made from the download of the song would go towards the Damien Echols Defense Fund, a benefit foundation supporting the release of the West Memphis Three.

 
In an recent interview, Draiman announced that not only will Disturbed not be touring their sixth annual Music as a Weapon tour next year, they will not be touring during the year 2012 at all. They will be going on an indefinite hiatus due to personal reasons with each of the band members. Draiman stated, "We're not gonna do our own thing either. This is gonna be the last tour that the American people get to see us in for awhile, if not indefinitely. 

We have some things going on internally, we have some personal things going on. So I don't know. It's hard to tell. But I can definitely tell you there won't be a 'Weapon' around next year with us on it. If we end up keeping that brand [and possibly 'leasing' it out to other bands to use]… it has kind of become its own entity, it's something we have talked about in the past, and that's possible. But you're not gonna see a Disturbed tour for awhile”.