FOR HEADY THRASH, THE SYSTEM WORKS: DOWN SERVES UP ENLIGHTENED RAGE LIKE NO OTHER METAL MERCHANTS CAN
by Stuart Derdeyn, The Province
The Vancouver Province (British Columbia)
September 18, 2005 Sunday
FINAL C Edition
Let it never be said that System of a Down are just another metal
band. The Armenian/American quartet has sweet nothing in common with
any of those other tattooed, pierced and peeved angst merchants making
music for middle-class Caucasian males.
Not that this isn’t the core audience that the band brings out. It is.
But that this politically and artistically progressive group has
captured that audience still comes as a surprise.
Choruses of “Why do they always send the poor?” from “B.Y.O.B.” —
the band’s opening number at the Pacific Coliseum last night —
just aren’t drawn from the same creative wellspring as “I did it for
the nookie.” There’s something altogether more serious being offered
up by these guys.Which doesn’t mean that the crew is all agit-prop
preaching and no fun.
Far from it.
Daron Malakian has some of the silliest audience banter this side
of a comedian. Who says “Party people put your hands together” at a
rock show?
The same guy incorporating interpretive modern dance routines and clown
antics into his onslaught of molten-lead heavy riffage, that’s who.
Of course, when your bassist has a braided soul patch that hangs down
to his midriff and ultra-neon yellow socks glaring out from under
his capri pants, you’ve no choice but to be physical to get noticed.
Shavo Odajian’s motoring and John Dolmayan’s relentless pounding
aside, it’s the way that Malakian and Frank Zappa-esque lead singer
Serj Tankian play off one another that really generates the power in
sing-along faves “Needles” and “Revenga.”
Both have distinct pipes that, when put together, make for the
harmonies that lock the choruses in anti-pop culture critiques such
as “Violent Pornography” in your head forever. For all its rage and
lightning-fast time signature changes, there’s almost a folk-song
sensibility to System’s songwriting.
With Mesmerize already getting some of the best reviews of the band’s
career, excitement over the soon-to-be-released companion to that
disc can only build after a gig as tight as last night. Connecting
with your audience to build a collective sense of unified purpose is
always at the heart of a killer show. But this is an act that wants
to see the message carried past the mosh pit; to bring enlightenment
to an audience more open to ideas than it gets credit for.
Hopefully to foster a sense of community carried well outside the
arena.