Amazon.co.uk Review
The first instalment of a projected two-album set,
Mezmerize sees
System Of A Down, an American band of mostly Armenian heritage, further distilling their unique formula of thrash metal, socio-political rage, and Eastern European vocal melody into ever-more fiendishly complicated and white-knuckle exhilarating forms. Moreso even than 2001's
Toxicity, this is a album of intense complexity: crammed with whiplash-inducing tempo-changes and a schizophrenic mood that sees sing-a-long, poppy choruses segued effortlessly into breakneck speed-metal, it's as bewildering on first listen as it is addictive after three.
Like Rage Against The Machine, SOAD are a fiercely moral band, but they never let their message stagnate through po-faced delivery: see, for instance, "Cigaro"--ostensibly a song about abuse of power, but one which opens with frontman Serj Tankian yelping "My cock is much bigger than yours!" Musically, too, they're not without an occasional lightness of touch: see the excellent "Radio/Video", riding along on a bouncy ska rhythm. But it's perhaps inevitable that Mezmerize should climax on a note of epic disgust, in the shape of "Old School Hollywood" and "Lost in Hollywood" – two songs that rage against the glossy materialism of their Los Angeles hometown, taking down a regiment of Z-list celebrities and "maggots smoking fags on Santa Monica boulevard" in a firestorm of righteous fury. --Louis Pattison
Album Description
Mezmerize is Disc One from System of a Down's 2-disc set, Mezmerize/Hypnotize. Disc Two ("Hypnotize") is expected to be released in late 2005.
System of a Down wrote some thirty tracks for "Mezmerize/Hypnotize"--including "B.Y.O.B." [Bring Your Own Bombs], which questions a president's involvement in the business of war--and recorded them at producer Rick Rubin's Laurel Canyon studio between June and November of 2004. The album was produced by Rubin and Daron Malakian and mixed by Andy Wallace, who also mixed Toxicity and Steal This Album!
The new songs are more complex, more progressive, more unorthodox, and more experimental than ever, while retaining the idiosyncratic, ironic and schizophrenic qualities that make System of a Down so distinctive. Topics include relationships, the evils of television and corporate mind control, the mysteries of life and death, and a surreal experience at a celebrity baseball game. Some of the song titles include "Radio Video," "Old School Hollywood," "Cigaro," "Lost in Hollywood," "Question," "Vicinity of Obscenity" and "Revenga". The decision to release the two discs six months apart was made simply to give fans time to get into and really live with the music from Disc One before plunging into Disc Two.
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~ System of a Down
~ System of a Down
~ System of a Down
~ System of a Down
~ Serj Tankian
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