The early 2000s rock scene was a crazy place. Amazingly, it wasn’t uncommon for heavier acts to get played on some pop radio stations or even MTV. (Ahh, the way we were…) Then there was that wave of nu-metal, a rock sub-genre which has about as clear a meaning now as it did then. Into the fray of Limp Bizkits and Creeds and System of a Downs came Disturbed, a Chicago quartet that didn’t quite sound like the rest of their contemporaries.

Maybe it was their rather polished sound as a band – a clean but no less heavy sound that relied on some loops and programming as well as pure live recording. Maybe it was the potent vocals of David Draiman, the bald, intense frontman who had no trouble shifting from sonorous tenor to gravelly snarl. Or perhaps it was the heavy, hook-laden singles such as “Stupify,” “Down with the Sickness” and “Voices.”

Whatever it was, Disturbed were an out of the gate hit with 2000’s The Sickness, a Top 40 album that paved the way for three consecutive chart-toppers. Ten years later, while preparing their fifth studio LP, the band has reissued the disc that started them on the road to rock supremacy.

Fortunately, this set is no mere cash-in. The whole album has been given a bit of a polish in the form of a slightly tweaked mix and remastering as well as a slightly modified external package. Two bonus tracks, “God of the Mind” (found as a bonus on imported versions of the original disc) and the new vault cut “A Welcome Burden,” are also included. (Small but nice touch: the lyric sheet makes room for these tracks as well.)

But it’s the music itself that shines on The Sickness. The first four tracks – “Voices,” “The Game,” “Stupify” and “Down with the Sickness” (all released as singles) – still pack a massive punch. And the album cuts are heavy without bearing too hard on the listener. The lyrics might not be for everyone – a lot of meditations on violence, loss and anger – but later tracks like “Droppin’ Plates” and a surprisingly faithful cover of Tears for Fears’ “Shout” prove that the band dosn’t let the negative emotion define the music.

Disturbed did have some more growing to do; their next two albums, Believe (2002) and Ten Thousand Fists (2005) are even stronger than The Sickness. But this album was and is a particularly strong debut. If you’ve missed it in the past decade, this reissue is as good as any a reason to pick it up.