Scooter Chronicles

System of a Down - “Toxicity”

Tracks:

1. Prison Song
2. Needles
3. Deer Dance
4. Jet Pilot
5. X
6. Chop Suey!
7. Bounce
8. Forest
9. ATWA
10. Science
11. Shimmy
12. Toxicity
13. Psycho
14. Aerials

I had two brief introductions to System of a Down. First was on a compilation CD that my mother-in-law got in a 12 pack of Pepsi or Coke (it contained “Prison Song”). Then David put together a CD for us to listen to when driving to New York to pick up Catherine and Shannon a few years ago (it contained “Chop Suey!”). Finally, about a year ago, I broke down and bought this album.

(From left): Serj Tankian (vocals, keyboards), Shavo Odadjian (bass), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), and John Dolmayan (drums).

All four are of Armenian descent, though only Odadjian was actually born there. (Malakian is the only US born band member.) You might have guessed the strong ethnic content from their names. What is interesting is that they bring an ethnic sound to their music. It’s hard rock, heavy metal for sure. But some of the riffs are clearly heavy with an ethnic folk sound, and they even use mandolins and acoustic guitars to further the atmosphere sometimes.

SOAD (the common abbreviation) was considered one of the Nu-Metal bands of the mid 90’s. Nu-Metal being hard rock / heavy metal with rapped vocals and even samples and maybe even scratching. Well, SOAD is with the rock-metal sound, and at times the rapid fire vocals are shouted and given a rapped-like sound. But timing in the release of their first album is what really had them classified in that genre. Now these days, they are considered one of the “new wave of progressive rock” bands that are coming out. Of course, they don’t like how the media keeps changing their labels. Malakian has mentioned in interviews that SOAD is not the most original band in the world, but it may still be hard to classify the band.

I would agree that it is hard to classify them. Though I tend to label bands, and do that in my write-ups here, I do it to help describe them. I just like good music. And that’s what SOAD provides. Most of the songs deal with social issues. A good description that I read is that SOAD picked up the baton that Rage Against the Machine dropped when they broke up. This in itself doesn’t interest me. I liked Rage mostly due to having three cracking great musicians (who are now in Audioslave with Chris Cornell). But SOAD uses a sarcastic wit which makes it more interesting to listen to. They also have an outrageous sense of humor. Some of the songs are worth a listen just for a laugh. “Needles” (”My tape worm tells me what to do / My tape worm tells me where to go”) and “Bounce” (about going on a date and showing the girl and her friends tricks on a pogo stick) are the best of those.

Now I will admit too that the progressive rock label has some merit. Progressive rock doesn’t mean what it used to back in the early 70’s when it had it’s birth. Prog rock these days usually means great musicianship, intricate and complex chords, time and key changes, though it is also highlighted with longer songs. Well, an average SOAD song clocks in at 3:00, but the other “symptoms” are there. Malakian is an excellent guitarist and switches easily from super power crunch speed metal riffs to ethnic folk acoustic guitar and mandolin without missing a beat and doesn’t make any of it out of place. Tankian screams and bellows at times, typical maybe of the style of music, and uses a staccato rapid fire vocal sequence from time to time too, but he also can sing. And Dolmayan I think is just a damn fine drummer.

The biggest reason I like this album though is that it’s catchy. Every single song sticks with me. I find almost every song on this album going through my head days after listening to it. And that is probably the best sign of a great album.