System of a Down | Mezmerize
System of a Down are a very good band, and Mezmerize is a very good album. I can't believe I just typed this sentence, I had written SOAD off into the 'loud rock without talent' genre. It is not, it is better. The single, "BYOB" confirms insanity, yet also confirms listenability. Mesmerize features waltzes and polkas mixed in with acute arpeggios, layered harmonies as well as yelling in my face...This is not the typical nu-metal schlock that is usually crammed down our throats by major labels. This band really has talent, don't hold it against them that they are part of the machine, perhaps you have to get deep inside it before you can pull out the wires from the inside.
      On "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song," Serj Tankian may sing "There's nothing wrong with me/There's something wrong with you" convincingly, but anyone who's heard System of a Down's frenetic metal-funk and hyper singer knows that there's definitely something wrong with every one of these guys ("choking chicks and sodomy")?? However, I am not opposed at all to their politics, they may be this generations righteous brothers. "Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor? And we all live in a fascist nation...and where the fuck are you?" Worth listening to the angry generation that didn't agree, this is cultural literacy. - TK