SYSTEM OF A DOWN — System of a Down (review)

SYSTEM OF A DOWN — System of a Down album cover Album · 1998 · Alternative Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Pekka
Since the site's conception I've been warming up my elusive reviewing skills with miscellaneous albums that happened to pop into mind. But now I'm ready to tackle the ultimate fanboy mission. Blame me all you want, people, but this is how I feel about these albums.

I don't know how it came to be, but this weird bunch of Armenian American madballs with no official releases under their belt somehow or other managed to jump from LA clubs to a studio where the legendary Rick Rubin himself was waiting to press the record button. He did, and judging by the sound of this record they might have played their stuff there and then on one take, unplugged and walked away. They captured a very raw live-like sound for songs that are raw, at times humorous and most of the time completely out of control. Built on rhythmic simplistic riffs and pounding beats, this album was grouped together with all the Nu Metal that was happening at the time, but if one listens to the record, one finds that System of a Down was completely on a different level when it came to twisted aggression and raw teen-angst-free emotion. Songs like Spiders, Mind and Peephole have some calmer moments, but they're most often broken up by loud bursts of fist-in-face attack.

Daron Malakian was always the band's main composer and with each album he would take more control over the band's sound and vocal department, but the real star of this album is Serj Tankian, at his brilliant best. Every song a great one to start with, they are crowned by one of my favourite vocal performances ever on any album. I could bring out a dozen examples of moments where he does some spot-on rhythmic phrasing, changes tone or bursts out to a hilarious rant, but you'll have to listen for yourself.

This is a pure adrenaline rush in music form, and there can't be an album out there that does it better. One of my top 3 favourite debut albums ever.
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The Angry Scotsman wrote:
more than 2 years ago
One of the first ever metal albums I heard.
Even now, 8 some years later I still love it!

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