andym173's Full Review: Hypnotize [PA] [Digipak] by System of a Down
People have every right to be just a little bit scared of System of a Down. I mean, I'm just a little bit scared of System of a Down, and I love them to pieces (I guess this sounds like some sort of abuser/abusee situation here, but it's nothing that sordid... I promise). Let's look at the evidence for a minute: they come from Armenia, which in itself is not a reason to fear them, but us Westerners (well-meaning or not) always tend to be a little wary of people from the East. I'm sure they're lovely chaps really. Anyway, they're also ferociously left-wing, which is probably most scary to people who are ferociously right wing. Being rather unferociously non-political, I'm not scared of ferociously left-wing people; I think I'm more scared of the band because of their music. Much like their political stance, their approach is ferocious. They play metal that is aural-assualt worthy to its very core. Drummer John Dalmayan bashes his drums on a set that resembles King Octopus of the Deep Blue's own personal kit. (If you've ever seen the video for "Toxicity", and marvelled at the sheer enormity of this beast -- jeez, the guy must have, like, eight cymbals -- then I'm proud of you.) Of course, this drum set is all to aid in making things as CACOPHONOUS as possible, and (this might be scary too) the guy should technically be some sort of non-human entity to be able to conquer his kit. Singer Serj Tankian's voice sways somewhere between operatic and Sepultura-esque, all the while staying strangely relevant to the music playing behind him. Daron Malakian is just a creepy-looking little guy. I get the feeling I'd be quivering behind my mummy for the whole night if I went to see them live and he looked at me once. Just a glance. He's one hell of a guitar maestro (effortlessly conjuring up riffs that encompass about seven genres in the space of maybe 30 seconds of a song), but the guy reminds me of Satan's little helper. Yeesh. And, hey, bassist Shavo Odadjian... well, he just kinda plays bass, but have you seen the size of the man? Plus, he's bald. The band would feel very at home in the casting room for the Addams Family, I think.
Despite subtly (or not) ripping the band apart in that last paragraph, you will notice that I subtly (maybe this time) complimented their musical prowess too. That's because they give me funny feelings in my tummy. Only recently, though. First album System of a Down was a competent introduction to the band's zaniness, and follow-up Toxicity took the zaniness to even higher levels, but suffered due to its inconsistency (namely, four or five outstanding songs and two or three absolute Chernobyls of tracks). In these years, to be fair, the band were only starting to forge their identity, and were largely only worshipped by underground fans. You know, the kind of people who crawled around the sewers like spiders... hence, like Daron Malakian, for that matter. I hinted earlier that their sound is metal-ish, but that's not strictly true: popular tracks like "Chop Suey!" and "Aerials" should be beacons to even the most ignorant fan that there's more to the music than just that. Obviously, their sound has a strictly Eastern influence, that is felt in quite a few tracks, and they can be quite mellow for long stretches of time. As shocking as it may seem, they can resemble classical music at points, as their tunes are often split into short, distinct sections (movements?) that sweep down on the listener, interspersing with each other randomly and catching the unsuspecting hearer off-guard. Their sound effectively straddles the borderline between catchiness and heaviness, I feel, and this is probably the reason for their heightened popularity today. (I say today, but it was really more like a year or two ago: I'm late to the reviewing party.) Ah, today! SOAD decided, in 2005, to release a double-album, but screw convention! Were these maniacal maniacs of mania going to release the double-album as one complete package, like most bands would do? No, no. They'd make their fans wait a few months between each release, and attempt to forge some sort of foolish packaging intended to fit together. (It doesn't work, as many nights of thumb-fiddling frustration have proven, and the cases are generally awkward little buggers -- a true double-album set would've been wiser, yes.) The first release was Mezmerize, and came early in 2005, to rave reviews. I bought it; I thought it was fantastic, their most consistent yet, but there was something missing. I felt there was a bit of substance lacking. I know, I know, substance in a SOAD album. What?? I should mention at this point that the band are somewhat infamous for their at-times-idiotic lyrics. Anyway, Mezmerize was nice enough (an all out assault on the listener, mind), but my real treat came nearer Christmas.
Hypnotize is a different beast entirely. Whereas the former was an absolute thirty-minute blast of adrenaline that barely let up for two seconds, Hypnotize carries with it a tad more variety, that makes it palatable to my ears. See, Mezmerize's songs were fantastic, for the most part, but as is typical in a SOAD release there were a few clunkers in the midst. It's sort of a tradition with the band to expect them to totally lose all semblance of sanity on a couple of tracks, and alienate the listener. But Hypnotize, throughout its forty-minute run-time, manages to stay totally focused the whole way, and not drop one clanger -- at least in my eyes. Some may say the "Vicinity of Obscenity"/"She's Like Heroin" pairing late in the album marks the point where the band go off the rails, but I disagree. The former is a schizophrenic nightmare, but in a good way. It begins with a rattling, stuttering beat that finally morphs into a flurry of fuzzed-out chords, and then Serj repeating the incomprehensible "Banana banana banana terracotta pie" over and over again (see what I mean?). This all devolves into a heavy-as-lead scream-along chorus, where one can't help but yell out the aforementioned lines. And then there's the ever-so-slightly funky breakdown about the "whores with bad feet", who "beat the meat". Ewww. It sounds like something a thirteen year-old would spit forth, I know, but it's frantic and fun enough that I don't even notice it. Maybe something to do with the fact that the song doesn't maintain the same rhythm for any longer than about five seconds. That's the thing about SOAD: they're all over the place. A bit like this review. Anyway, "She's Like Heroin" is one of the songs to feature Daron primarily on vocals... mainly screaming "ASS!", to be fair, but each to his own. The songs itself sounds like something that (given less offensive lyrics) could be played on Sesame Street, all cutesy farting notes and punchy splurting bursts.
It might be salient to mention that, in these double-albums, guitarist Malakian has been given increased responsibility. He now helps out more with the writing of songs, and also aids with vocals in a few tracks. I must say, for all the flak he's taken regarding this, I'm of the opinion that it does the band the world of good. He seems to have ironed out the creases in Serj's oft-inconsistent writing and, the odd juvenile lyric aside, it's brought SOAD a more complete package of songs with which to impress the listener. His vocals might be a little whiny schoolboy-esque, but I actually think they're a nice complement to Serj's dulcit tones. Take "Lonely Day", possibly the greatest sing-along of the decade. It sounds like the kind of power-ballady, power-chord led number that any generic American band tries to crack the charts with at any point, but done System of a Down style. No matter how much I hate the grammatical incorrectness of the line "The most loneliest day of my life", I still can't help belting it out at the top of my voice. The song builds to such a stirring conclusion, helped out by a distinctly Eastern-flavoured, vibrating solo. After this penultimate track, the album finishes off with "Soldier Side", the second bookend of the double-album, along with the identically-named track that started off Mezmerize. It's similar to "Lonely Day" in its awesome build-up and Eastern soloing, but turns out less streamlined and more bumpy. In essence, its tone is more incensed than reflective. It bemoans war (like much of the album), with such cheery sentiments as "People all grow up to die" and "Young men standing on the top of their own graves".
While the end of the album goes out in a slow burn, the beginning can't help but whip your pants down and paddle your arse just for the hell of it. "Attack" does literally what it says on the tin, pummelling the listener with frenetic bursts of grinding guitar and pounding drums, not to mention Serj's guttural screams. "Dreaming" isn't much of a let-up, but doesn't quite come up and slap you in the face, more coming up behind you and battering your back, just for the sheer element of surprise. It's a stirring flurry of noise that eventually morphs into a drawn-out, growling chorus, but not before bouncing along almost merrily for a few seconds. God, I'm exhausted even writing about it. "U-fig" comes later in the album and is in a similar style, though possibly gets caught between trying to be too heavy and trying to be too catchy with what is a generally annoying chorus of "eat 'em eat 'em eat 'em..."; it's probably one of my least favourite tracks for this reason alone, although the verses are bloody euphoric. And that bit where Serj screams so much you think he's actually burning is rather terrifying. But you should know that already. "Stealing Society", meanwhile, is more like it: the intro just screams 'speed-metal' and 'Metallica', but SOAD don't like to be too predictable, so before long they're ditching the fluttering guitars and opting for novelty sing-along choruses and pseudo-rapping interludes (insanely cool, by the way, but the shouts of "Looking for a mother that'll get me high/ Just a stupid motherfucker if I die I die" make me cringe just a little bit).
The genuine centrepiece of the album has to be "Holy Mountains", though. And not just because it's about the only track to clock in at over two-and-a-half minutes (over five), but because it has that 'epic' feel that just lends itself to centrepieces. And albums are always so much cooler when they have a centrepiece, huh? It's quite spooky in the beginning, with funereal aaah-ing, and a general plodding, foreboding atmosphere. But the rifle-like lead-ins to the choruses are just orgasmic, as are Tankian's impassioned cries in the actual choruses.
This is one of those albums that I can just come back to and listen to over and over again; it has that type of replay-value, in that there's so much going on within these songs that things never get boring. I'd need about a day to be able to describe every single musical movement on the album. The thing with System of a Down is that, before this, I used to treat them like a novelty band of sorts. I liked them very much indeed for the 35% where they totally hit their stride, but they could keep the other 65% as far as I was concerned. However, with Hypnotize (and, to a lesser extent, Mezmerize) they've proved that they can up their percentage of acceptable tracks considerably, and thus retain the listener's attention for a full album. As a result, I have no chance of viewing this album as something merely for novelty: every time I pop it on, I'm staggered by the level of talent, energy, innovation and NOISE present. System of a Down may be scary, but in my mind they've also become scarily good.
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