You know, I don’t like these nu-metal bands, so when I got
this album, I was VERY skeptical about these guys. But I was blown away by this
music and these songs. System Of Down are brilliant. And they recorded a brilliant
album. And, you won’t believe me how I was surprised when I discovered that
this is an album of the outtakes from their first two albums (the ones I don’t
own. Yet)! Of course, they re-recorded them and re-mixed them, but the fact
is the fact: this is the album of outtakes. And it kicks ass.
You know, apart from the other nu-metal bands, System Of A Down don’t rap, write
cool melodies and songs (which are POP songs, carefully masked under metal,
actually) and they have one of the most talented vocalists in the history of
modern music – Serj Tankian. This guy can scream, he can sing gently, he car
roar and he can even whisper; but whatever he does with his voice, he does it
great. He is definitely my favourite member of the band. There is also a great
guitarist Daron Malakian (who write all of the music, by the way), weird-looking
bassist Shavo Odadjian and one of the best “new” drummers around – John Dolmayan.
And have you noticed they all got weird names. That’s because they are ARMENIAN!
No, of course, they were born in America (I suppose they were), but they are
Armenian by origin. That automatically makes them rule.
As I said, these songs are just pop songs. You can call it pop-metal, actually.
It clearly shows on the album’s opener – “Chic ‘N’ Stu”. This song doesn’t have
choruses or verses, but it’s got a great structure (with absolutely gorgeous
middle section), and it’s all fast, angry, catchy, hilarious (what do you want
from the song about pizza?) and LOUD. On the other hand, this album has a fantastic
gorgeous ballad called “Roulette” that no nu-metal band can pen. Bar System
Of A Down, of course. Because these guys are way too talanted to write crap
like “People = Shit”. Instead, they write beautiful and calm ballad.
In fact, the album is divided on good, slow hard rockers and fast angry punkish
blasts. I’m a big fan of the blasts, because they are just crazy. “Pictures”,
“Fuck The System”, “I-E-A-I-A-I-O”, “A.D.D.”, or, say, “36” – they are wild,
raw and energetic as hell. Plus, they all have their own hooks. An awesome Armenian
folk singing in “I-E-A-I-A-I-O” or Serj’s nonsensical mummbling in the verses
of “Fuck The System” – these hooks are great! As for those slow hard rockers,
they aren’t THAT great. “Boom!” may be the only one bad song on the record –
dull spoken verses with awfully cheesy choruses don’t make a good song. “Ego
Brain” is almost unmemorable, and “Mr. Jack”, while having absolutely awesome
closing part, is boring. “Highway Song” and “Innervision” are awesome, anyway.
But even few low points can’t spoil this great album. Go get it today – it’s
your chance to listen to the best and the most imaginative nu-metal band ever.
GET IT.
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