Are You Ready (Disturbed song)

[4] In July 2018, upon the completion of recording the band's seventh studio album Evolution, frontman David Draiman polled fans as to whether they preferred the first single to be a heavy rock song, more akin to most of their back catalogue, or a more mellow ballad song, more comparable to their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

[8] Guitarist Dan Donegan noted that the song's origins trace back to 2004, as a musical idea he had written during the sessions for their Ten Thousand Fists album.

[9] He stated that he never finished the track in 2004, and it was pushed aside due to the band focusing on further-developed material instead, and was placed into the band's archives until 2018, when he presented it to Draiman, who instantly gravitated towards writing scat vocals for it.

[10][11] Heavy.com, in documenting fan reaction, noted that the song was generally positively received, with most noting its similarity to the band's earlier albums, which was cited as both a positive and negative trait by various commenters.

[13] Despite its heavier nature, Wall of Sound praised the song as one that would also appeal to an older generation of listeners that may have started to follow the band later in their career after the crossover success of their cover of "The Sound of Silence".