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With the release of Hypnotize, System makes a bid for rock immortality |
Posted by miamicanes04 on Monday, January 02, 2006 - 05:10 PM
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THE release of the second part in the two disc cycle of Mezmerize/ Hypnotize marks the point where System of a Down joins other rock giants in their grand undertaking to stake a claim at their own sonic terra firma.
Historians of music looking for commentary on particular eras should look no further than the conceptual beast known as the double album. Like Pink Floyd’s The Wall, the original vinyl issue of Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, The Smashing Pumpkin’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, or, perhaps closer to the point, Metallica’s And Justice For All, Mezmerize/ Hypnotize is an endeavor that sprawls, widely encompassing and certain of its own truths.
The sheer number of tracks and subject matter that double albums often tackle not only means it’s got something to say, but its important enough that you better listen. On this one, SOAD not only provides an artistic tour de force but also scathing political observation and social commentary as compelling as war reportage on CNN, as immediate as a shot from an AK47.
Though the band denies any particular political inclination, their work from their self-titled debut in 2000 shows a particular vexation with the powers that be and their organism of corruption. "I don’t really have a side--I’m not red or blue," says Daron Malakian, guitarist for SOAD. "And since I did write a good part of the lyrics on this record, the songs tend to take a middle ground rather than being one-sided about it. I think that’s why my world and Serj’s [Tankian] come together so well lyrically, because he’s more politically motivated and I’m not, but some of his stuff makes mine more serious, and some of my stuff makes his stuff a little bit more human."
"I don’t feel any particular responsibility in discussing social or political things," Serj Tankian, lead singer for SOAD explains. "It’s something that’s in my heart. I’ve always had a problem with injustice, whether it’s personal, national, international or universal. It’s just always bothered me to the point where I have to say or do something."
The smart thing about SOAD’s double album is that they only released half of it (Mezmerize first, then Hypnotize after six months), fully understanding that sometimes it’s good to make the kids wait, especially with their attention span deficiency at an all time high.
With Mezmerize having sold over three million albums worldwide and "BYOB," the album’s digital single, gone platinum, it seems the ploy has worked to SOAD’s advantage.
System of a Down first appeared on the scene in 2000, with their self-titled debut on American Records, distributed by Columbia. With their soon-to-be-distinctive sound already gestating under the caring wing of super producer Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Slipknot) SOAD were branded as avante garde metal heads with a distinctly activist bent.
The group’s uncompromising tour schedule and widespread radio support for the songs "Sugar" and "Spiders" broke them in and quickly gave street cred plus a rapidly expanding fan base.
SOAD mostly hail from Los Angeles and are of Armenian descent (two of them were born in Lebanon, one in Armenia and another in Hollywood). Their names reflect it too. SOAD is Serj Tankian (lead vocals and keyboards), Daron Malakian (guitars and vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass) and John Dolmayan (drums).
System of a Down garnered critical and popular acclaim and sold more than two million copies worldwide. But that was nothing compared to what their sophomore album Toxicity achieved.
Released in September of 2001, Toxicity not only put them on the fast track to stardom, it also landed them on a critical crème de la crème list that included nods from quarters like Time Magazine. With the events of 9/11 following in its wake, Toxicity fast became as timely as front page news.
Led by the Lennon-McCartneyesque tandem of Malakian and Tankian, songs like "Chop Suey!" "Aerials," "Prison Song" and "Toxicity" with their dizzying shifts in rhythm, inventive use of volume and distortion, seemingly nonsensical lyrics that walked a tightrope between the absurd and the poetic, and utilization of Armenian folk melodies stand as 21st century benchmarks of art metal.
"We’re artists for the sake of art," Tankian says. "And our expression is pure and natural in terms of where it comes from. I think that’s always better with art because, once you have something in mind and you try to achieve it, it becomes less pure in some ways. If you just let whatever expression there is come out--it might be socially viable, it might be political, romantic, humorous, a personal narrative, a philosophical thought, whatever it is."
When 2002 came they released Steal This Album!, the odds and ends companion to Toxicity. SOAD got deeper into their activist work, partnering with Tom Morello of Audioslave to form Axis of Justice – a non-profit organization using music to educate and fight for social justice. Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore also made their highly controversial music video for the song "Boom!"
Using their popularity and measure of cool, SOAD have made many formerly apathetic Americans close their hands to make a fist. It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that they have also made a fair number of the kids care.
The next two years saw SOAD touring relentlessly and working on Axis of Justice and on other projects. By the end of 2004, SOAD had attained fame, artistic laurels and a following as hugely rabid as Cerberus. With characteristic humility and unpredictability though, SOAD unveiled their magnum opus the following year.
Esquire Magazine named SOAD "Best Agitators" in their 2005 Esky Music Awards, saying that "This band’s what Public Enemy once was and what Rage Against the Machine never quite managed to be: the potent trifecta of credibility, sincerity and real danger."
Wow. I wish I could say it better, but I can’t. With this double album SOAD are now not only a heavy metal band with conscience and a unique artistic vision that confronts the three-horned creature of social, political and cultural evils, they have also become a relevant and justly important group.
"People ask, ‘How are you going to compete with Toxicity?’" Malakian points out. "And the answer is: by not competing with it. By not being afraid to use the new ideas that we have. Some bands are afraid of their fans: ‘They’re not gonna like this and they’re not gonna like that.’ We don’t have that mindset. We’ve got to impress ourselves before we impress the fans."
Hypnotize is part two of the double disc set and it features 12 new songs completed in the same sessions as Mezmerize. It is still produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian at Rubin’s haunted Laurel Canyon mansion. The inside art and packaging is especially designed to physically join with Mezmerize, thus forming one product with unified artwork.
Those who have already listened to Mezmerize know about the expanded musicality and instrumentation, the back and forth passing of arrangements and lyrics between Malakian and Tankian, plus the greater participation in songwriting, video directing and visual art from Odadjian and Dolmayan.
For those about to listen to Hypnotize, you’re in for what is essentially Part Two of an epic rock diptych. For those who have just listened to the album and want an analysis of what they’ve just heard, first, stand up and applaud. Let’s hear it for the boys and their product.
Hypnotize, like the first disc, is a sonic adventure where context and layers of meaning merge and flow into one another. It’s a colossal mystery play where the listener is thrown right into the bedlam.
SOAD are merciless in their odium for politicians and their conspiracies. "Hypnotize" is a refutation against mediocrity and media misdirection tactics. "Why don’t you ask the kids at Tianamen Square/ Was fashion the reason why they were there?" goes the lyrics and woe betide all the poseurs and lovers of army attire. Meanwhile, the elegiac "Tentative" tackles the plight of innocents and refugees caught in the crosshairs of war, saying "Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?"
Elsewhere, the blistering assault and penetrating insight that is trademark SOAD is apparent on tracks like the opener "Attack" and "Kill Rock `n’ Roll." Even these are exemplary inventions, one moment its art rock then hard rock, changing to Floydian prog, kicking into psychedelia then hardcore then thrash. There’s also nu-metal, old metal, alternative, a dash of folk scales here and there and even Sugar Ray-worthy pop hooks.
Source: The Manilla Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/I2005123052813.html
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Comments
nico
02.01.06, 19:26
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their self-titled debut in 2000 Come on ! please...
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carey_hart
02.01.06, 19:36
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This article was one of the best I have read..
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anndrew_SOAD
02.01.06, 19:59
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:-[)
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ang+serj
02.01.06, 20:18
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Good article but its 1998 not 2000.
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innozent
03.01.06, 00:10
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Nice article.
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sorifes
03.01.06, 00:10
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Let's hear it for the boys and their product! :D All of them no less. That's actually a good article good job whomever wrote it! But yeah 1998 cause otherwise I wouldnt' have listened to Spiders in 99
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whiskass
03.01.06, 04:13
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that's a nice article.. despite the wee errors.. but yeah.. it is still nice..
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jade
03.01.06, 05:04
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errors are weird, but I whem I found this article myself yesterday, I was happy with it. And I'm still happy with it:))
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Bright-Darkness
03.01.06, 09:01
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i thought they were all born in armenia...
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ArmenianBulgarianAmerican
03.01.06, 09:58
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I dont know, but I have read this article somewhere, or atleast parts of it like atleast a month before. Weird.....
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hovig_ArArAt
03.01.06, 13:48
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COOOOOOOOOOOOL.IF SYSTEM RELEASES A SONG WHERE THERES NO SOUND! ...........I WOULD STILL LISTEN TO THAT SONG!!!!!!!!!.
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wally6sic6
03.01.06, 20:15
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good artical over all but John was born in Canada not Lebanon, and 1998 not 2000
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DianaL510
03.01.06, 23:19
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^ Huh? I thought John was born in Lebanon and then moved to Canada before he moved to LA. I think Serj was born in Lebanon too... Shavo in Armenia... and Daron in Hollywood...
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shotgunjoe
04.01.06, 00:30
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Daron's family left Armenia and went to LA, where Daron was born. Nice article though.
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Hawlie
04.01.06, 03:18
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Besides the error (it was 1998 S/T was released, but whatever, lol)....good article! *stands up and applaudes* I just love our boys. :)
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wally6sic6
04.01.06, 09:21
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i heard on a interview wit daron that john was born in canada. i think one of those toazed interviews from like 2002.
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yoeri_soad
04.01.06, 12:51
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system of a down 4 life im a true fan fans like to talk 2 me add me yoeri_diaz@hotmail.com
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seanstermonster
05.01.06, 00:14
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actually wally there was an interview where they said that as a joke, but no, they are right, serj and john were both born in lebanon. I'm not entirely sure if it was a complete joke, but I know for sure that john was born in lebanon.
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