Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
June 2, 2005 Thursday
CITY EDITION

SLIPPING IT PAST CASUAL LISTENERS;
SYSTEM’S MESSAGE CLEAR, IF YOU CAN MAKE IT OUT

By Melissa Ruggieri Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

At the moment, it’s hip to listen to System of a Down.

Its latest assembly of 11 airtight metal rock songs (clocking in at a
mere 36 minutes), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart last
week.

The band is garnering more attention than ever in mainstream
magazines, including Blender and Entertainment Weekly. And anyone who
caught its raw performance on “Saturday Night Live” a few weeks ago
had to secretly cheer that at least one word slipped past the person
hitting the mute button (it’s supposed to be live, right?).

That said, System isn’t for the delicate of eardrums. But what sets
it apart from the caveman walloping of many similar bands is an
uncanny ability to shove a melody into the heart of its headbanging
songs and usually — but not always — have something intelligent to
say. At least once you read the lyrics, because understanding them is
a crap shoot.

The first single, “B.Y.O.B.,” is mostly indecipherable until it
shifts into a soft ska chorus with a biting anti-war sentiment
(“Everybody’s going to the party, have a real good time/dancing in
the desert, blowing up the sunshine”). The same can be said of
“Violent Pornography,” 3 1/2 minutes of thunderous riffing that also
contains the odd juxtaposition of a chorus that might sound
comfortable on Top 40 radio, right next to Green Day and Baby Bash.

Parts of the album feel as if singer Serj Tankian still has more to
say — surely intentional given the band has a second album,
“Hypnotize,” due this fall. But it’s impressive that the four
members, all of Armenian descent, aren’t afraid to stir ethnic sounds
into its hearty sound.

“Radio/Video,” a lyrically weak song consisting of one repetitive
stanza, nonetheless stands out with a chugging beat that you’d expect
to accompany dish-breaking or chair-raising or some other cultural
representation at a wedding. Until the finger-bending guitar kicks
in, anyway.

Fans of the band will likely relish the straightforward speed metal
of “Sad Stature” and “Question!” which finds guitarist Daron Malakian
beating his strings to sound like bug wings frantically flapping
against a window. But a closer listen is more rewarding once it’s
realized that System is a lot more than the latest musical trend.

System of a Down

Title: “Mesmerize”

Label: American

– Highlights: “B.Y.O.B.,” “Radio/Video,” “Violent Pornography”

– Grade: B

Each new release is graded from A (the best) to F (try again).