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Rating:
Here; now everything is clear, even SOAD has embraced showbiz.
Now you might think: "This is one of those who hate System and just want to fill a page with free insults".... WRONG!!!!
This is intended instead as an analysis from a diehard fan who has seen his favorite band bow down to the will of the strong powers of music (and I also fear to the will of Rick Rubin).
But let's go in order: at first (speaking for myself) it was "Steal This Album!"; LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!!
Purchased under friends' advice, I didn't regret it then and I don't regret it now. Riding the wave of enthusiasm, I search for the previous album, the legendary "Toxicity"; I find it, listen to it and conclude that this band drives me crazy and that until now, I had been a moron (musically speaking) wandering around collecting trash and discarding diamonds.
Happy as a clam, I decide to end my journey backward with the band's first album; "System Of A Down", truly surprised that a metalhead like me had never listened to this. With this excursion, we arrive at 2004; the year in which SOAD, in just 2 years, had ousted all competitors in my ideal music chart, conquering, with a certain gap, the undisputed first place.
So I eagerly await the rumors of an impending new System album (even though "Cigaro", released a few months before the album's publication, hadn't thrilled me that much) and here's when one fine day I learn from the radio that the band decided to split the new work in two parts (due to the "quality of all the tracks made," according to what Daron Malakian said, but I will have the opportunity to return to this point later) and that the first would be named "Mezmerize".
Fiery as a taliban, I rush to buy the new "pearl", but once opening the oyster, I find myself holding a BRICK, as if I were in Naples... (no offense to Neapolitans); the album is sometimes heavy (but I will talk about it more in detail in another review... maybe) and for some tracks useless (over time they will become "many tracks"...), yet despite this, I swallow the toad and decide to wait a year and trust the interviews, I heard: "we left the best for the next one...", "In Mezmerize we wanted to experiment..." (MAAAH...)
And here we are in November 2005; The very day the album is released (which had an even more enticing name than the previous one: "Hypnotize") I rush to a music store and barely have time for the clerk to open the box with the new arrivals before I find myself with the CD in hand and 20 euros less in my wallet (that day I thought well spent... what a fool).
I insert the disc into the player and here I get hit by "Attack", a "Prison Song" style song, which at first glance seems good to me (although nothing transcendental) and prompts me to keep listening. So I stumble upon "Dreaming", which frankly seems useless and incomplete. It goes a bit better with "Kill Rock 'n Roll"; very catchy (and I found it nice even in the live version available on the internet before the album's release) and "Hypnotize", a song that initially captivated me.
Somewhat reassured, I proceed with the listening, but fall into a DEEP MARIANAS TRENCH. Three tracks that send me into a panic (NOT AGAIN!!!!), from which I partially escape with the anxious "Holy Mountains" (which already then paled compared to a similar but not excellent song like "Mr. Jack") but in which I sank again after listening to the desolating "Vicinity Of Obscenity" and "She's Like Heroin".
Discouraged, I ended the listening experience with the last two tracks; "Lonely Day" (a song so sappy that even my sister liked it, an adept of Giorgia and Laura Pausini) and the acceptable "Soldier Side". Reaching the end of the CD, I felt what one feels when losing a loved one and not knowing how to react; I fell into the "IT'S NOT TRUE" phase, and when asked how I found it, I responded: "Beautiful, comparable at least to Steal This Album... I certainly didn't expect another Toxicity."
Look, I exited from this phase yesterday when faced with choosing which System songs to put on the iPod, I decided to be honest and only include the ones I considered important... and you know how it ended? OF THIS LAST DOUBLE "MASTERPIECE" I DIDN'T INCLUDE EVEN ONE!!! I PREFERRED TO CHOOSE STUFF LIKE "PHEEPOLE" OR "SHIMMY" RATHER THAN LYING TO MYSELF AND CONTINUING TO FORCE FEED MYSELF THAT JUNK, OTHER THAN "QUALITY OF ALL THE TRACKS", FOR THIS TRASH I WOULDN'T HAVE CHOSEN A DOUBLE BOX, BUT A NICE BIG DUMPSTER!!!
Having recovered my mental faculties, I then tried to find a reason for this double shipwreck, without being too biased: A) Too much space for Malakian (brilliant guitarist, good text writer, decent backing voice to the immense Talkian, but terrible lead singer!!!) B) Interference from Rubin for a more "commercial" work (but I don't quite believe it) C) Lack of drive and ideas (very probable).
At this point, I hope that the "Armenicans" I adored may take a reflective pause, hoping for a triumphant return (I don't want Toxicity, I don't want anything they've already done; I just want another wonderful chapter of their musical evolution), yet despite this, I cannot refrain from offering a mathematical tip to all System fans who haven't yet bought the double atrocity: MEZMERIZE+HYPNOTIZE=20€+20€ (what hypocrisy!!! and then they act like purists with the recycled paper of the covers; objectively the only thing that is salvaged from the album)=LONGING FOR SOAD (and maybe to commit suicide with a dose of Gigi D'Agostino) - MONEY IN THE WALLET + Desire to hunt for old albums (I consoled myself with the Nine Inch Nails).
Postscript: I apologize for the excessive length of the review and for the numerous parentheses, but it's my first time and I had to vent to someone, since I can't afford a psychologist.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Attack (03:06)
Breathing each other's lives
Holding this in mind
That if we fall, we all fall
And we fall alone
The cold insincerity of steel machines
Have consumed our euphoria
Transforming us into muted dreams
Dreaming of the day that
We attack
Attack, attack your fetal servitude
We attack
Attack, attack, attack with pesticide
We attack
All the years of propaganda
We shall attack!
Bombs illustrate what we already know
Candles cry towards the sky
Racing your flags along polluted coast
Dreaming of the day that
We attack
Attack, attack your fetal servitude
We attack
Attack, attack, attack with pesticide
We attack
All the years of propaganda
We shall attack!
Attack! (Attack!)
Breathing each other's lives
Holding this in mind
That if we fall, we all fall
And we fall alone
Breathing each other's lives
Holding this in mind
That if we fall, we all fall
And we fall alone
Was the philosophy of displaced minds
The bombing of all homes and villages?
Truth is the only sword bleeding minds
Bleeding till the day that
We attack
Attack, attack your fetal servitude
We attack
Attack, attack, attack with pesticide
We attack
All the years of propaganda
We shall attack!
Attack all the homes and villages
Attack all the schools and hospitals
You attack all the rapes and pillages
We shall attack!
We shall attack!
03 Kill Rock 'n Roll (02:27)
So I felt like the biggest asshole
Felt like the biggest asshole
when I killed your rock and roll
Mow down the sexy people
Every time I look in your eyes, every day I'm watching you die
All the thoughts I see in you about how I
So I felt like the biggest asshole
(felt like the biggest asshole)
When I killed your rock n roll
(mow down the sexy people)
Every time I look In your eyes, every day I'm watching you die
All the thoughts I see in you about how I
Eat all the grass
Eat all the grass that you want
Accidents happen In the dark
Eat all the grass that you want
Accidents happen In the dark
Eat all the grass that you want
Accidents happen In the dark
Eat all the grass that you want
Accidents happen
Every time I look In your eyes, every day I'm watching you die
All the thoughts I see in you about how I
Why Why
Why Why
So I felt like the biggest asshole
When I killed rock n roll
When I felt like the biggest asshole
When I kill rock n roll
04 Hypnotize (03:09)
Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen square?
Was Fashion the reason why they were there?
They disguise it, Hypnotize it
Television made you buy it
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my...
She's scared that I will take her away from there
Her dreams that her country left with no one there
Mezmerize the simple minded
Propaganda leaves us blinded
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my girl
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my girl
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my girl
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my
Girl
05 Stealing Society (02:58)
Yeah, oh right
Yeah, oh right
Two skies
Watching it all, fading
Two skies
Living it all, fading
Two skies
Watching it all, fading
Two skies fading
One's abating
Two suns
Living it all, dying
Two suns fighting
One's abiding
Two suns
Watching them both fighting
Two suns
Seeing them both dying
Two suns
Watching them both fighting
Two suns fighting
One's abiding
Two skies
Seeing them both dying
Two skies fading
One's abating
Crack pipes, needles, PCP and fast cars
Kind of mix really well in a dead movie star If I feel like talking, I
never be wrong If I feel like walking, you best come along
I close my windows
Crank the heat up high
Till my palms are wet
And my tongue is dry
I'm looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
I'm a midnight fistfight
Looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
I'm a midnight fistfight
Looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
Alright
I'm looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
(Two suns fighting, one's abiding)
Alright
Looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
(Two skies fading, one's abating)
Cause I'm looking for a mother
That will get me high
Just a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
(Two suns fighting, one's abiding)
I'm looking for a mother
That will get me high
I'm a stupid motherfucker
If I die, I die
(Two skies, two suns, watching them all go)
Yeah, alright, yeah, alright
06 Tentative (03:36)
Superstition taking all of us for a ride
Mimes overtaken by the signs of the Right
The bombs are falling overhead with no sight
While you are talking all detached, so tell us
Where you're going to the bottom
Do you hear us? We are rotting
We're going down in a spiral to the ground
No one, no one's gonna save us now!
Ceremonies have killed religions for they provide
The masked comforts to delusionals, they're all in fright
The true believer's head was bathed in sunlight
While you are walking all detached, so tell us
Where you're going to the bottom
Do you hear us we are rotting?
We're going down in a spiral to the ground
No one, no one's gonna save us now, not even God!
No one saved us, no one's gonna save us
Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?
Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?
Where do you expect them to go when the bombs fall?
Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?
Superstition taking all of us for a ride
Mimes overtaken by the signs of the Right
The bombs are falling over our head with no sight
While you are talking all detached, detached, detached, detached, detached,
We're going down in a spiral to the ground
No one, no one's gonna save us now! (not even god!)
No one saved us, no one saved us
No one saved us, no one's gonna save us now
Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?
07 U-Fig (02:55)
Melt in the sun, melt in the sun!
Who wants to come with me and melt in the sun?
Hide in the sky, hide in the sky!
Who wants to come with me and hide in the sky?
You and me should go outside and...
Beat em' beat em' beat em' beat em' beat 'em beat 'em
All pathetic flag waving ignorant geeks and we'll
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
Come join the cause, come join the cause!
Who wants to come with me and come join the cause!
Hide in the sky, hide in the sky!
Who wants to come with me and hide in the sky!
You and me should go outside and...
Beat em' beat em' beat em' beat em' beat 'em beat 'em
All pathetic flag waving ignorant geeks and we'll
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
You and me should go outside and...
Beat em' beat em' beat em' beat em' beat 'em beat 'em
All pathetic flag waving ignorant geeks and we'll
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
Realize you're blind
And we're out of time it'll show your mind
Melt in the sun, melt in the sun!
Who wants to come with me and melt in the sun?
Hide in the sky, hide in the sky!
Who wants to come with me and hide in the sky?
You and me should go outside and...
Beat em' beat em' beat em' beat em' beat 'em beat 'em
All pathetic flag waving ignorant hicks and we'll
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
You and me should go outside and
Beat em' beat em' beat em' beat em' beat 'em beat 'em
All pathetic flag waving ignorant hicks and we'll
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
Eat em' eat em' eat em' eat em' eat 'em eat 'em
It'll show your mind that you have a mind
08 Holy Mountains (05:28)
Can you feel their haunting presence?
Can you feel their haunting presence?
LIAR! KILLER! DEMON!
Back To The River Aras!
Someone's blank stare deemed it warfare
LIAR! KILLER! DEMON!
Back to the River Aras !
Freedom
Freedom
We're free
We're free
Can you hear the Holy Mountains?
LIAR! KILLER! DEMON!
Back to the River Aras!
Someone's mouth said paint them all red
LIAR! KILLER! DEMON!
Back to the River Aras!
Freedom
Freedom
We're free
We're free
They have all returned, resting on the mountain side
We have learned that you have no
They have returned resting on the mountain side
We have learned that you have no
HONOR! MURDERER! SODOMIZER!
Back To The River Aras!
They have returned, resting on the mountain side
We have learned that you have no
HONOR! MURDERER! SODOMIZER!
Back to the River Aras!
Freedom
Freedom
We're free
Freedom
09 Vicinity of Obscenity (02:51)
Liar!
Liar!
Banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie
Banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie
Is there a perfect way of holding you baby?! (Liar)
Vicinity of obscenity in your eyes!
Terracotta terracotta terracotta PIE!
Is there a perfect way of holding you baby?! (Liar)
Vicinity of obscenity in your eyes!
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terrecotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terrecotta terracotta pie!
Do we all learn defeat from the whores with bad feet
Beat the meat, treat the feet
To the sweet milky seat
Banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana terracotta banana terrecotta terracotta pie!
Is there a perfect way of holding you baby?! (Liar)
Vicinity of obscenity in your eyes!
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie (Hey!)
Terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Do we all learn defeat from the whores with bad feet
Beat the meat, treat the feet
To the sweet milky seat
Liar [moan]
Liar [moan]
Liar [demon moan]
Liar [moan]
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
Banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie!
10 She's Like Heroin (02:44)
She's like heroin
Sipping through a little glass
I'm looking for some help
I need someone to save her ass
Chinese tricks in rooms
With ghosts of hooker girlie dudes
Me and heroin, maybe we can make some cash selling
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
She wants nothing more
But to be a little whore
He wants nothing less
But to wear a little dress
She's like heroin
Sipping through a little glass
I'm looking for some help
I need someone to make some cash selling
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
ASS
Selling ass for heroin
She's like heroin
Sipping through a little glass
I'm looking for some help
I need someone to save her ass
She wants nothing more
But to be a little whore
He wants nothing less
But to wear a little dress
She's like heroin
Sipping through a little glass
I'm looking for some help
I need someone to save her ass
Chinese tricks in rooms
With ghosts of hooker girlie dudes
Me and heroin, maybe we can make some cash
She's like heroin
Sipping through a little glass
I'm looking for some help
I need someone to save my ass
11 Lonely Day (02:47)
Such a lonely day
And it's mine
The most loneliest day of my life
Such a lonely day
Should be banned
It's a day that I can't stand
The most loneliest day of my life
The most loneliest day of my life
Such a lonely day
Shouldn't exist
It's a day that I'll never miss
Such a lonely day
And it's mine
The most loneliest day of my life
And if you go
I want to go with you
And if you die
I want to die with you
Take your hand and walk away
The most loneliest day of my life
The most loneliest day of my life
The most loneliest day of my life
Such a lonely day
And it's mine
It's a day that I'm glad I survived
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Other reviews
By Spike Joe1
The album opens really well with the adrenaline-pumped 'Attack' in pure System Of A Down style.
'Holy Mountains' offers five and a half minutes of pure musical enjoyment.
By AndJusticeForAll
The voices of Tankian and Malakian blend fairly well and result as very (too much) catchy (commercial?).
A nice little album and that’s it, pleasant to listen to when you want uncommitted music.
By Divodark
This yet another overrated nu-metal band had the brilliant idea of releasing two practically identical albums six months apart for business reasons.
Buy this album and you’ll be left with nothing in hand.
By rockanto
With this epic work, Serj Tankian & co. have definitively become a commercial band (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
"Vicinity of Obscenity" is simply brilliant: starting with a rhythm marked by drumsticks, then psycho rock with filtered voice, a dance hint and a funky soul ’70s chorus, followed by metal again.
By Bisius
I'd say here S.O.A.D. have given their worst with disgustingly pop melody (and who cares about the fake big guitars in the background).
Malakian can't sing, his voice is shabby, and where Tankian's angelic voice builds, he arrives with high notes worthy of Katia Ricciarelli.
