System Of A Down
Hypnotize

THE REVIEW

Yes, I know, there are many reviews of this album, but I wanted to review something by SOAD, to show how overrated these guys are and what better album than "Hypnotize"?

When System of A Down released their very raw (but for this reason decent) debut, let's be honest, nobody cared about them, then they made that pseudo-colossus (I don't know what's different from the debut) of "Toxicity" and then the SOAD-cyclone started: they are the best, the most technical, the most innovative, the most most most.. the most a bunch of nonsense, people went so far as to call them the best of nu metal, when they didn't even realize that nu metal and System of A Down are two profoundly different things, the first is a movement born with Korn and Deftones and continued in various directions with Incubus, Limp Bizkit, Soulfly, Slipknot, and Coal Chamber to name the most famous, System of A Down wanted to attach themselves to the nu-metal band label at the beginning and then when the genre was no longer trendy, they immediately got rid of this blessed "nu metal".

And today’s System of A Down comes out with these kinds of albums, this "Hypnotize" and its worthy counterpart "Mezmerize" are useful to themselves because honestly, it is just a mixture of pseudo-metal, pop rock, Armenian folk, and ska (never forget, the bass of SOAD is on ska lines (!!!!!!!!!!!!), a genre that has nothing to do with metal). But how did they earn these 2 thetrooper? you might ask yourselves (dear and always tough) readers, well, a bit because it's close to Christmas and also because not everything should be thrown away, because there are good tracks that although absurd and crazy in structure, riff, and voice (but aren't they going to disconnect the mic from the guitarist? What the hell is he singing for, if they have Tankian who is, after all, not the last one around in this kind of Zecchino D'Oro?) they are listenable, I'm talking about "Dreaming", "Kill Your Rock n' Roll", the title-track, "Soldier Side" (but is it a mandolin or the guitar?), the super pop "Lonely Day" and naturally the very sensible one with a text that more beautiful it can't be "Vicinity Of Obscenity".

So dear System Of A Down here a simple EP would have sufficed, you could have put these 6 pieces plus "BYOB" from "Mezmerize" (the only decent track... that album indeed deserves a 1) and you would have taken less money from your fans and maybe thetrooper would have given you 3 stars. Another thing regarding the lyrics: stop pretending to be revolutionaries in suits because no one falls for that anymore, to me politics is a serious thing and should enter music only skillfully, or else you end up like Rage Against The Machine (musically I don't touch them at all because they're great), also false-revolutionaries who were simultaneously publishing records on an American multinational. The only one who has always moved me a little bit in System of A Down is the drummer, he rocks and knows how to be super fast, the others are 3 clowns from the Takimiri circus (a circus that always comes by my area in the summer and more or less has 3 spectators at each show and one of them is me).

P.S.: I know the review is a bit crappy, but I can't write anything better when talking about SOAD... judge for yourselves.. I know there are lots of parentheses, but I like them!