It finally may be time for heavy-metal rockers Disturbed to start flying over the radar.

The nu-metal headbangers just scored their first Grammy nomination for hard-rock performance, a bit of validation for a band that’s been around for nearly a decade.

"We thought we’d be one of those bands to wait 20 years before anyone acknowledges us, like Black Sabbath," lead singer David Draiman says. "We thought we’d really have to pay our dues."

The band has never really been high on the radar, even with as much as it’s accomplished, he says. "It’s always been an uphill battle."

Disturbed has been well-known in hard rock and metal circles since its breakthrough CD, "The Sickness," in 2000, but its fame has never extended beyond that genre.

Draiman says it’s because his Chicago-based foursome is anything but packaged.

"We’re the real thing," he says. "We came together organically."

When the Grammy news first came to Draiman, he thought it was a joke.

"It’s hard for me to swallow. But we did put out the best record of our career in ’Indestructible,’" he says, adding that he thought the song "Inside the Fire" is what broke the CD through in Grammy voters’ minds.

"It deals with the taboo issue of suicide, and it was a very personal song that affected a lot of people. It struck a chord, and I’m happy it did."

The CD also includes a couple of topical tunes in the title track and in "Enough."

The title track "was written to be an anthem for the troops," Draiman says. "It’s meant to be a record that inspires strength and power and motivation. It’s a fight song."

"Enough," he says, "is the flip-side of the perspective. "It speaks against man’s tendency to perpetuate war."

"Indestructible" is the band’s first effort producing itself, after three records with Johnny K, who got a Grammy nomination for producer of the year.

"There comes a time for the bird to leave the nest," Draiman says. "He was a great teacher, and we learned what we needed to learn, and wanted to do it on our own."

With "Indestructible," Disturbed has returned to its angrier, more primal roots.

"When we first sat down to talk about this CD, the guys asked me where my head was, what I was thinking for a vibe," he says.

"I’d gone through some tough times the last couple of years. So I said just throw at me the darkest, nastiest stuff you can. And they were too eager to comply."