Socialistworker.co.uk, UK
May 24 2005
Reviewes:
Mesmerize: System of a Down
Columbia Records
Few bands as left wing as System of a Down have enjoyed the level of
mainstream success achieved by this second generation Armenian
quartet.
The band attended a recent award ceremony with band members dressed
as George Bush and Osama Bin Laden and holding hands as they walked
on stage.
In the first single taken from on Mesmerize, `B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your
Own Bombs)’, Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian end with a frenetic
appeal during the outro: `Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do
we always send the poor?’ It is simply incendiary.
`Sad Statue’ veers from eulogy to raging condemnation. The song takes
the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the waywardness of the American
Dream and the disenfranchised generation left behind.
Trevor Byrne