| System Of A Down | 1998 |
| Toxicity | 2001 |
| Steal This Album! | 2002 |
Heavier mainstream music in the late 90's-early 00's has shown a depressing tendency to become extremely formulaic and tired, as if angsty screaming and/or whining over heavyness is enough to make up for lack of imagination in melody, lyrics, riffs and just about everything else related to a song. But thankfully, these guys are one of the few bands that are bothering to do anything interesting with the form. System Of A Down are essentially a band that are heavily politicized like Rage Against The Machine in the lyrics (which can get somewhat stupid at times in their generic 'overthrow the system' vein or whatever), but significantly distinguish themselves by actually varying the tempos and moods, often throughout the same song, not only mastering the light-to-heavy tone well, but also adding such novelties as waltzes and sometimes even slightly epic mood pieces.
Their frontman Serj Tankian, unlike Zakk De La Rocha, is one hell of a versatile vocalist, going from a normal enough singing voice to the the typically deep-throated metal growling/screaming to almost comical high-pitched squealing to other psycho intonations. There's not really much of an introduction to write here, as System has so far released just three albums - their self-titled debut in 1998, their commercial breakthrough Toxicity three years later (you know, the one with that 'angels deserve to DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE' song) and the sort-of outtakes collection Steal This Album!
--Nick Karn
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COMMENTS
You know what? I actually like this band. And i'm not ashamed to admit it. Sure, their albums are far from consistant, but at least they dont sound like every other mallcore band out there.
Fuck you Nick Karn!! Rage Against the Machine owns that fucking stupid foursome of Armenians!! If you think Zakk is less talented than Serj, you have no intelligence!! Rage's lyrics aren't tiresome, they're visceral, powerful, and exciting unlike SOAD. 90% of System's songs are about really stupid shit, the other 10% are about their tepid politics. System actually thinks that religion is right and science is wrong, how retarted!! Erase your current reviews for Syndrome of a Clown and make them all bad!! Drop this stupid SOAD shit and listen to Rage!!
What are you on about? Zakk de la Rocha is for one, a naturally talented singer unlike system of a down who use all kinds of studio enhancements, and secondly, listen to renegades, that's a versatile album.
Arh ha ha, Nick Karn you have certainly hit a sensitive spot with all those Rage fans out there!
So… are you trying to stir shit or what? cause lets face it both of them are out there trying to give peace and justice to those who deserve it and that is what the two bands are really about. So you can have your shitty little argument about who is better but I think it is time that you looked at the big picture and listen to what they are singing about and not just how they sound!
Kane Cooper
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Peephole, Sugar, Suite-Pee. LOW POINTS: not sure, but some stuff is ehh....
Now this is a weird, slightly unsettling, sound here - it will very likely either turn you off completely in its' ugliness or have you not even knowing what to think. What System Of A Down attempts to pull off here is this strange fusion of modern metal, waltzy, vaguely East Indian-style melodies, occasional attempts at punk and maybe even slight art rock in places (since a few of the songs here are kinda multi-part compositions). And it's all topped off with the mainly political ravings of a schizophrenically voiced frontman. Although it's a neat formula at the core, and it would be perfected in a more convincing way on the next album, over the course of 40 minutes or so, all these deep-throated, mostly profanity laced, rants against the system (with ugly screaming and sometimes same-sounding riffs) can get a bit grating, especially since a lot of the melodies here aren't very memorable. But luckily, there are enough interesting and even catchy moments throughout to make the record generally enjoyable as a whole, if a bit bothersome in some places.
I won't really go through all the songs in detail, since several of them sound almost alike to me in excecution, and especially since the opening "Suite-Pee", with its' introductory warp-speed guitar line and furious, growling chants seems to convey similarly styled songs here in a catchier and more aggressive fashion (though stop-start chaotic bursts like "D-Devil" and "Darts" manage to work alright). But regardless of the sometimes overabused formula, I really like some of the ideas they have going here. Example? The lead single "Sugar" manages to get a surprisingly effective multi-part feeling in 2-1/2 minutes, with its' thoroughly aggressive verses shifting into an extremely entertaining and amusing funky 'breakdown' section, and I can't get enough of that hilariously exaggerated 'NO LIGHTS?? NO MUSIC???' sort of bridge heading into a great pissed off chant ('how do I feel / what do I say / fuck you, it all goes away').
As for the rest, probably my favorite song here would be the highly infectious "Peephole", which not only has arguably the catchiest melody on the whole album, but uses the waltzy groove extremely well, and the guitar bursts in the beginning of the verses have an almost horn-like quality to them. Kinda neat. Elsewhere, "Spiders" and "Mind" convey a considerably slower and generally more mood-based territory (the latter eventually turns similarly aggressive like the rest), and while they're not very memorable, they're alright listening. And though the actual song is just so-so, the high-pitched squealing in the middle of "Suggestions" completely cracks me up. Why can't more nu-metal vocalists sing like that? That would be hysterical! The remainder of the songs, outside of the convincing 'you'll never think you know' chorus of "Know", aren't very substantial, and by album's end, the whole sound wears a little thin on me, but oh well. They would improve from here.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Toxicity, Prison Song, Chop Suey!, Psycho, Aerials. LOW POINTS: None.
I suppose System Of A Down's formula hasn't changed that much since their debut, but there's enough effective refinements here that it's easy to see why it broke them through to the mainstream. Most important of all are that the songs here are almost all catchy in their own neat kind of way (though a couple of them might take longer to stick in your brain than others), and they've focused their sound so that their hardcore-sounding riffs and musical changes in each song have pure power and force. So yeah, Toxicity is definitely the best demonstration of their sound thus far - it's less self-consciously 'ugly' than before, with all the lyrical ranting generally being more subtle (a modern metal album with next to no profanity on it? yikes!) and very much working within the context of the more well-written and memorable music. Granted, maybe the songs are a little gimmicky in places, but it's music that's aggressive, provocative and catchy without ever resorting to pure brainlessness.
Several of these songs, in fact, are truly effective slabs of condensed punkish, artsy metal. Take the opening "Prison Song", which, when done by a more generic band, would be a half-baked rant against the government. But when the simple, yet intense, riffage is combined with an ultra-quick vocal delivery over a fast waltzy tempo, a bridge with conviction-filled screams over an intense groove and hilariously exaggerated deep-throated growl, and a quiet ending, the words and hook manage to stick with you. 'MANDATORY - MINIMUM - SENTENCES!" Yeah! Even the more conventional material works well - "Jet Pilot" is basically a very standard hardcore punk song, but somehow the song really brings to my mind vivid images of a jet rapidly careening towards the ground through the chorus hook and the way it's delivered. And these guys also have a sense of humor - among all this political stuff, "Bounce" is a song about a pogo stick (or umm, something else - use your imagination) with more exaggerated waltsy stuff in the verses combined with a wildly entertaining and amusing chorus that goes 'ahhh pogopogopogopogo BOUNCE pogopogogo UP BOUNCE JUMP...' (or some variation of that).
Oh yeah, this album also spawned two deservedly big hits as well. "Chop Suey!" is probably the most representative of the manic style here, with its' acoustic intro leading into great stop-start bursts of fast rapping that follows and then back to a quieter, but still haunting, chorus ('I don't think you trust... in... my... self-righteous suicide... I cry... when angels deserve to DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!') I dig the intense, though strangely hilarious, screams in the bridge, and the clever incorporation of Far Eastern melodies. The title track, though, is probably even better - I love that moody back and forth guitar line that opens the entire song and the calm, foreboding melody, particularly in the fabulous pre-chorus ('eeeeeating seeeeeds is a pastiiiime activity... the toxicity of our city...') before switching into a heavier-edged chorus with all these cool screams of 'DISORDER! DISORDER! DISORRRRRRDERRRRR!!' that eventually end the song. The effect is powerful stuff!
Elsewhere, there's nine other songs here (14 of them are packed into just 41 minutes, actually), and get this - none of them suck! Sure, some may be less substantial than the others ("X" is a more standard brief punkish piece, and "Science" doesn't have much more than its' cool, telling chorus of 'Science... has failed... our world!'), but all of them have neat features to keep you interested. The remainder of the song might be only decent, but the bridge of "Needles" has to be the coolest part of the album - the naked 'I'm sitting in my room with a needle in my hand...' backing vocal portion certainly leaves a lasting impression, just in the sheer chilling mood it creates with its' slow bass-heavy build and ending screams of 'some old dying.... MAAAAAAN!' And what else is there? "Deer Dance" captivates on its' 'PUSHING LITTLE CHILDREN, WITH THEIR FULLY AUTOMATICS' chorus and 'beeping' guitar parts throughout the verses, "Atwas" works on its' haunting introductory melody ('all the world I've seen before me passing by-y'), and "Aerials", with its' uncertain guitar lines and mantra-like tone, is the perfect song to close the album off with.
Damn, there sure is a lot to write about this thing. Well, for better or for worse, System sure has refined an interesting sound with quite a bit of unique personality within this material. Some of it even finds the time to include melodic guitar soloing in all its' manic glory (the cocaine anthem "Psycho"), or incorporating mystical-sort of qualities ("Forest"), maybe even entertaining little grooves ("Shimmy"). All I know is if modern metal took more cues from this band, I'd be a lot more into the style. Sure, very few of the songs are brilliant or anything, as cool as they are, but the very limited scope of this kind of music kinda doesn't allow for much brilliance anyway. Toxicity consistently holds interest, though, which is more than you can say about Drowning Pool or whatever.
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COMMENTS
Man Nick, did you do some speed today or something? I dont think i've ever seen such an animated review from you. LOL.
Anyways, i've only heard the two radio hits, the title track, and of course "Chop Suey", both of which kick a lot of ass with palm muted speed metal riffing in the latter and cool rhythmic changes in the former. Serj is also perhaps the most fascinating vocalist in pop music today with his odd tonality and rhythmic abilities. Plus he actually sings in places, like the chorus to "Chop Suey".
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Chic 'N' Stu, Highway Song, Boom!, Mr. Jack, I-E-A-I-A-O. LOW POINTS: Thetawaves.
Now this album, I think, cements System Of A Down's title as 'coolest nu-metal band on the planet' (not that there's very much worthy or remotely varying competition, but that's beside the point). The guys actually had enough material for a double album around the time of the Toxicity sessions, but for that album, they picked the songs that hung together best as one effort. However, they still felt they had a lot of just as good or better songs in the can that were too solid to go to waste, and so comes this release. Several of these tracks had already been circulating around the internet for awhile, which inspired the band to come up with the concept of titling the record Steal This Album! and not including any booklet or artwork at all, instead designing it as if the whole thing were just a CD-r copy, and they even encouraged their fans to just download all the songs that appeared on here! See what I mean about that 'coolest nu-metal band' title?
Better still are the songs on here, which I think actually are just as solid as the ones on Toxicity and maybe even better, and support the idea that it could have made a strong double album (well, they did touch up the stuff on here in the studio, and added songs from as far back as the debut). Maybe there isn't anything as awesome as the highs on there, but I also think Steal This Album! is more consistently entertaining and catchy, so call it even. There are your normal crazy political rants like "A.D.D." and the self-explanatory, absolutely manic "Fuck The System", infectiously driving 'mainstream' songs in "Innervision" (which has a neat tribal thing going on near the end), and cool touches throughout like the warp speed flamenco guitar solo amongst the heaviness in "Nuguns". The songs seem a little more condensed than they were on the first two albums but yet still incorporate just as many quirks. Nice to see that some bands are nostalgic for the times when the greatest songs out there were only 2 or 3 minutes long!
The big high points, though, are just cool. The opening "Chic 'n' Stu", a song about the evil of advertising, has an intense, entertaining and incredibly catchy verse mentioning pizza toppings of all things, with awesome manic melodies and even a dreamy acoustic bridge ('advertising's got on you on the run...') Then there's the single "Boom!", whose lightning fast moody chord progression with calm spoken verses is fantastic enough, but then the jarringly awesome 'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!' chorus comes in (and I'd also like to add its' anti-war video, with random people on the street yelling the chorus and cartoon versions of Bush, Saddam and Osama Bin Laden riding missiles, is about the greatest thing ever). The sort of ballad "Mr. Jack" has a massively heavy bottom-ended riff to go along with its' moody and creepy buildup parts and vocals before building up to an intense repeated yells of 'PUT YOUR HANDS UP! GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!' Man, is this great.
Or how about the irresistible singalong track "I-E-A-I-A-O", with its' warp speed 'bouncing ball off the wall' manic vocal nonsense (i.e. 'fighting crime with a partner Lois Lane Jimmy Carter') and hilarious 'whoo oo oo oo' outbursts. Plus, the chorus is an incredibly catchy chant of the title sung in harmony, and those lyrics in the final verse about 'plutonium wedding rings' and 'bicycle shoestrings' are crazy! If it's subtlety you're looking for, check out the wonderfully rising guitar lines and tense vocals that make up "Highway Song" (which really bring 'cool night on the highway' imagery to my head) or the ballad "Roulette", which incorporates acoustic guitar and strings and actually stays in that mode the entire song, showcasing what a great normal singing voice Serj Tankian actually has when he's not doing his odd vocal tricks or screaming his ass off. I mean, really, who else in the scene comes near this kind of stuff?
Hmm... maybe this is a better album than Toxicity after all (in some ways, anyway). Several songs may either be too short to be truly enjoyed, just not all that great on their own, or both ("Bubbles", "Pictures", the incredibly short burst of energy "36", or the forgettable "Thetawaves"), but they don't take away too much from a solid record. I haven't been able to find many modern metal bands going from hypnotic beauty to all-out agression as something like "Ego Brain" or the yearning emotion of the closer "Streamline" quite as successfully, or at all. Not only do I recommend stealing this album (from Kazaa, WinMX, Soulseek or whatever, I mean - not from a store, dumbass!), but it's also actually worth buying as well, just for the coolness of a lot of these songs. They still suck if you hate particularly abrasive music, though, so you still might want to stay away if you fit that description.
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