Toxicity

System of a Down

album cover

Metal, Chopped and Chiseled

The average Slayer-worshiping suburban American headbanger wasn't prepared for System of a Down when its over-torqued debut appeared in the summer of 1998. By the time the band returned with this even more blistering follow-up in September 2001, things were different: Within weeks metal-heads were hailing System as the future of the genre. Then Korn and Tool fans jumped on board. Pretty soon Toxicity spread everywhere.

System of a Down relies on the same loud and sludgy power chords favored by hundreds of metal bands—except the L.A.-based foursome plays them twice or three times as fast, with serrated-saw lead guitar jutting from the mix. Where the lords of metal tend to keep the same groove going for a while, SOAD chops up its tunes into little episodes, some of which reflect the influence of Frank Zappa in his more absurdist moments. And where most singers in metal stick to a prescribed set of topics—raw anger, alienation, and the almighty next buzz—Armenian lead singer Serj Tankian agitates, surprisingly eloquently, about the U.S. government's abuses of power, and the inner thoughts of suicide bombers. (He's also the rare frontman inclined to find the humor in his over-the-top tirades; sometimes it's possible to hear him chuckling or injecting sly self-deprecating asides.)

Toxicity captures the band's range, and its rage. It's prog-rock muscle-flexing offset by goth darkness, a touch of thrash offset by a balancing hint of early '90s alternative rock. Its outbreaks of full-metal menace are followed by brisk and galvanizing funk rhythms, and those are followed by moments when the dust settles and something even more audacious, like a brave little lullaby melody, appears. The assault is a dense one, but it never feels like gratuitous metal rebellion in the key of noise: As Tankian and his crew blaze through "Prison Song," "Chop Suey!," and the mostly inscrutable "Jet Pilot," it's possible to hear them discarding all the tiresome posturing that's attached to heavy metal, the snide intolerance, the insularity, and the xenophobia. With the slate clean, they tear out in search of the next frontier. Only to discover about ten frontiers. Maybe more.

Genre: Rock
Released: 2001, American
Key Tracks: "Chop Suey!," "Prison Song," "Jet Pilot."
Catalog Choice: System of a Down
Next Stop: Tool: Aenima
After That: The Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath
Book Page: 758

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

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