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System of a Down Album: “Mezmerize”
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Release Date:2005-04-25
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Rock, Hard Rock, Metal
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Label:Sony
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Explicit Lyrics:No
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UPC:9399700133028
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Review - :
Adjectives like "ambitious," "jagged," and "startling" have always defined {$System of a Down}, and their third official full-length is no different. Prerelease, the band described {^Mezmerize} as being the first part -- the first side -- of what's essentially a double album. The records' packaging would even slot together, making the eventual Mezmerize/Hypnotize whole. Appropriately then, there's an intro to {$System}'s first new material since 2001's brilliant {^Toxicity}. On {&"Soldier Side"} {$Daron Malakian} and {$Serj Tankian} harmonize as they do throughout the record, and {$Malakian}'s guitar has a mournful, Eastern air. But it's just a lull before {&"B.Y.O.B.,"} a {\thrash} assault pierced with rabid and incredulous screams. "Why do they always send the poor?" Suddenly the gears switch, and the song stomps in crunchy half-time as its lyrics riff with a sick grin on cultural ignorance. The government's lying, {$System}'s saying, but "Blast off!/It's party time." The vocal exploration between {$Tankian} and {$Malakian} on {^Mezmerize} is a thrill -- they spur each other on like a two-headed {\hardcore} hero. Their intermingling voices make {&"Cigaro"} more aggressive, frantic, operatic, and totally bananas; they'd be triumphant over the break in {&"Violent Pornography"} if they weren't spitting out lines like "Choking chicks and sodomy." The fantastic {&"Pornography"} is a rusty shiv of absurdity, another example of {$System}'s ability to effectively skewer society with little more than hyper guitar, blistering percussion, and weird turns of phrase. Their volatile mix of righteousness, wordiness, odd meters, and thrash has balanced {$System}'s activism since their self-titled debut, making them "unique heavy music" over the much more problematic "unique, heavily political music." And {^Mezmerize} doesn't fail to be unique. {&"Old School Hollywood"} essays the bizarre experience of a celebrity baseball game ("Tony Danza cuts in line!") over keyboard effects from {&"Beat It"} and a brutally simplistic rhythm, {&"This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song"} is more twisted-tongue histrionics and explosive playing, and {$Tankian} and {$Malakian}'s harmonies are the catalyst (again!) for making {&"Revenga"} a truly feral epic. {$System of a Down} -- what's another adjective for "awesome"? ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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