System Of A Down - Toxicity (Sony)
In terms of sonic rage, aggression and angst in the alternative genre, many bands try to the flag for the cause. We say try, because the restrictive factor is that most do it in such appalling fashion, that they can rarely get the thing lifted off the ground. The bands that do it well from the last decade or so - Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot etc - are clearly a skyscraper and a half above the conventional crowd.
So to System Of A Down, and more specifically, the musical and lyrical revelation that is studio album two, the head clobbering Toxicity. A venomous message of words exposing America's political cover up's and incompetence, the tuneful results are just as gripping. The outspoken Prison Song ("Utilising drugs to pay for secret wars around the world / Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal corporate sponsored dictators around the world). The single prestige of Chop Suey. The dense, chorus excelling Forest - its just one classic battering ram after another. The head rarely doesn't want to bang - the mind rarely doesn't want to lash out.
The album itself, 14 tracks with many golden arrows, shifts moods and tempos with such elegance, you do have to ask yourself at this moment in time, who does this style of music better than System? It's going to take some serious balls to topple this baby… The title track shifts things into ultra heavy mode at a more-slow crushing pace as opposed to the earlier, aforementioned battering rams, while Needles and Psycho retain this quality while throwing melodic time changes in for supreme measure. Other than this, the Eastern tinge of vocalist Serji Takajan's roots adds something organic to the whole disc before proceedings culminate with the refined but just as ripe for the picking Aerials. Toxicity is, quite simply, a modern day masterpiece and to these ears, the album of 2001 - the new Rage has arrived.
Verdict - @@@@@
Andy Law
In terms of sonic rage, aggression and angst in the alternative genre, many bands try to the flag for the cause. We say try, because the restrictive factor is that most do it in such appalling fashion, that they can rarely get the thing lifted off the ground. The bands that do it well from the last decade or so - Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot etc - are clearly a skyscraper and a half above the conventional crowd.
So to System Of A Down, and more specifically, the musical and lyrical revelation that is studio album two, the head clobbering Toxicity. A venomous message of words exposing America's political cover up's and incompetence, the tuneful results are just as gripping. The outspoken Prison Song ("Utilising drugs to pay for secret wars around the world / Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal corporate sponsored dictators around the world). The single prestige of Chop Suey. The dense, chorus excelling Forest - its just one classic battering ram after another. The head rarely doesn't want to bang - the mind rarely doesn't want to lash out.
The album itself, 14 tracks with many golden arrows, shifts moods and tempos with such elegance, you do have to ask yourself at this moment in time, who does this style of music better than System? It's going to take some serious balls to topple this baby… The title track shifts things into ultra heavy mode at a more-slow crushing pace as opposed to the earlier, aforementioned battering rams, while Needles and Psycho retain this quality while throwing melodic time changes in for supreme measure. Other than this, the Eastern tinge of vocalist Serji Takajan's roots adds something organic to the whole disc before proceedings culminate with the refined but just as ripe for the picking Aerials. Toxicity is, quite simply, a modern day masterpiece and to these ears, the album of 2001 - the new Rage has arrived.
Verdict - @@@@@
Andy Law
