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  • Slipping it past casual listeners

    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).
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