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System of a Down review - noir-rock epics and the history of genocide
Wembley arena, London
The American-Armenian skull-pummelers deliver some worthy political
messages amid a messy sprawl of intricate, disjointed hardcore
Barrage of ballast ... Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down. Photograph:
Joseph Okpako/Redferns
Mark Beaumont
Sunday 12 April 2015 13.47 BST
The entry queues are chaotic, the toilets are overflowing, and the PA
pours out a relentless two-hour bombardment of math metal, violent
thrash rock and Armenian folk anthems. Yet, if it feels as if
Californian skull-pummelers System of a Down are trying to make
Wembley feel like its own downtrodden mini-state, we're soon put in
our place. The Wake Up the Souls tour marks the 100th anniversary of
the 1915 Armenian genocide - a subject close to the hearts of these
four politically voracious Armenian-Americans - and animated histories
of that and subsequent genocides in the second world war, Rwanda and
Cambodia are played out on the screens during interludes in the set,
narrated by Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. So, suitably
humbled, we endure.
Singer Serj Tjankian is an arresting presence, part hardcore Zappa,
part minaret muezzin, part Russell Brand gone feral. As he entreats us
to "change this planet so we're deserving of it" and yowls, "a whole
race, genocide, taken away - revolution, the only solution," on
solidarity anthem PLUCK, you salute his, well, pluck. Otherwise, his
worthy messages on drink-driving and police brutality (Mr Jack),
pulling the heroin "tapeworm out of your ass" (Needles) and war (War?)
are buried beneath a messy sprawl of intricate, disjointed hardcore
that, like the average First Dates participant, never seems to know
how fast it should be going.
With the prospect of SOAD's first album since the companion releases
ofMezmerize and Hypnotize 10 years ago looming, the faithful and
studious - this is rock that rewards only total immersion - circle-pit
with a semi-religious fervour. But the band only sparingly cohere on
the odd noir-rock epic such as Spiders or Hypnotize, moshpit
electrifiers Bounce and Toxicity, or when guitarist Daron Malakian
takes the spotlight for his crafty homage to House of the Rising Sun,
Lonely Day. Spots of relief in a barrage of ballast.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/12/system-of-a-down-wembley-arena-london-review
From: Baghdasarian
Wembley arena, London
The American-Armenian skull-pummelers deliver some worthy political
messages amid a messy sprawl of intricate, disjointed hardcore
Barrage of ballast ... Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down. Photograph:
Joseph Okpako/Redferns
Mark Beaumont
Sunday 12 April 2015 13.47 BST
The entry queues are chaotic, the toilets are overflowing, and the PA
pours out a relentless two-hour bombardment of math metal, violent
thrash rock and Armenian folk anthems. Yet, if it feels as if
Californian skull-pummelers System of a Down are trying to make
Wembley feel like its own downtrodden mini-state, we're soon put in
our place. The Wake Up the Souls tour marks the 100th anniversary of
the 1915 Armenian genocide - a subject close to the hearts of these
four politically voracious Armenian-Americans - and animated histories
of that and subsequent genocides in the second world war, Rwanda and
Cambodia are played out on the screens during interludes in the set,
narrated by Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. So, suitably
humbled, we endure.
Singer Serj Tjankian is an arresting presence, part hardcore Zappa,
part minaret muezzin, part Russell Brand gone feral. As he entreats us
to "change this planet so we're deserving of it" and yowls, "a whole
race, genocide, taken away - revolution, the only solution," on
solidarity anthem PLUCK, you salute his, well, pluck. Otherwise, his
worthy messages on drink-driving and police brutality (Mr Jack),
pulling the heroin "tapeworm out of your ass" (Needles) and war (War?)
are buried beneath a messy sprawl of intricate, disjointed hardcore
that, like the average First Dates participant, never seems to know
how fast it should be going.
With the prospect of SOAD's first album since the companion releases
ofMezmerize and Hypnotize 10 years ago looming, the faithful and
studious - this is rock that rewards only total immersion - circle-pit
with a semi-religious fervour. But the band only sparingly cohere on
the odd noir-rock epic such as Spiders or Hypnotize, moshpit
electrifiers Bounce and Toxicity, or when guitarist Daron Malakian
takes the spotlight for his crafty homage to House of the Rising Sun,
Lonely Day. Spots of relief in a barrage of ballast.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/12/system-of-a-down-wembley-arena-london-review
From: Baghdasarian