Track Listing
1. Prison song 2. Needles 3. Deer dance 4. Jet pilot 5. X 6. Chop suey! 7. Bounce 8. Forest 9. Atwa 10. Science 11. Shimmy 12. Toxicity 13. Psycho 14. Aerials Year: 2001 Label: Sony - Official Site |
System of a Down - 'Toxicity' - By B. McCann
A monster of an album this is. The perfect range of vocals by Serj from melodic singing to raging screaming, some of the vocals also sounding extremely weird. The guitar riffs are also distinctively enchanting, each song with its own aura around it. �Prison song� as you�d guess is about a prison, er that�s all I can really say about it. It isn�t one of my favourites but it might grow on me. �Needles� is a song I love with the humorous chorus of �pull the tapeworm outta your ass, hey!� it also has a beautiful melodic solo near the end with the guitarist Daron showing us his side of the bands singing. �Deer Dance� is another of my favourite songs on the album. Although I did get quite sidetracked towards the end it still remains a remarkable song, it has a great riff, fantastic singing and the usual strange lyrics. �Jet Pilot� and �X� weren�t really to my taste but I wouldn�t mind listening to if I had to. �Chop Suey!� is a song without any real meaning but it remains the best song of the lot. A catchy riff blended by great vocals and a powerful ending which, if you were in a depressed mood would probably make you cry �Trust in my self-righteous suicide, I cry, when angels deserve to die.� It did it for me!. �Bounce� could have been a great song because at the beginning it catches your eye�no ears, however, it starts to get a bit crap right at the end so its not in my book of favourites at the moment. �Forest� is truly a classic. The song has a great repetitive riff and powerful vocals with the chorus being �Why cant you see that you are, my, child, why don�t you know that you are, my, mind� there is also a strange solo at the end , which, at the same time makes you tap your foot and listen closely for the whispering Serj and the quiet drums and bass guitar. Then it jumps back into the chorus. �Atwa� and �Science� weren�t bad songs but I was too immensely impressed with �Forest� to really take much of the next two songs in. �Shimmy� instantly brought me out of the deep trance I was in, with its quick, low repeating intro which you know is going to lead up to something and when it does�headbanging time! The song is a bit like �Chop Suey!� lyric wise as they don�t really mean anything in particular, although I think the theme is about being restricted and limited at school or something but I'm not entirely sure. �Toxicity� is also a remarkable song with a quiet intro and a syncopated drum rhythm which, with the guitar creates a question/answer type riff. The rest of the song is virtually the same as the above with the verses being plucked slow. The last two songs aren�t very enjoyable but that�s just my judgement, I know plenty of people who like �Psycho� and �Aerials.� The album isn�t perfect but the brilliant songs make up for it. It is worth buying this hard rock, but at the same time peaceful and melodic, album. Metal Obsessive Grade: 86% |