Let me begin with a disclaimer. I don't mean to rant, but in general, I hate political bands. I can't stand political bands. I can't stand them because, generally, when they aren't misinformed fools popularizing redundant attitudes, they are sententious idiots that are just as misguided as victims of their malignant invectives. Generally.
Somewhere then, in what is a combative and belligerent backdrop, System of a Down are a political archetype of sorts. There is politics in the music they make, sure, but not the same sort of ridiculously partisan politics you are going to get from Fat Mike. They don't tell you what to believe. They don't even deviate that far into personal opinion and political positioning all that often. Simply, they present facts and say, "make up your own mind."
That is what Mezmerize asks you to do. Not to prejudge it because of preconceived notions about the predominance of the fan base, or the commercial success of past efforts. Not for the press and play list attention it has received, nor the rest of the nu-metal shit that SOAD have been lumped in with, but to actually step back from what you think you're going to get. It asks you to actually give it a chance to stand on its own, away from what you think you may know, and certainly from what you expect.
I say this because, a long time ago now, I refused to give System of a Down that chance. I wrote them off as worthless, mainstream crap. I wrote them off the same way I write off so many political bands these days, and I held that belief until the first time I was actually forced to listen to an album. That album was Toxicity. I was blown away by much of it. The power and aggression in the music was obvious then, and that power and aggression is still what makes the basis of every System of a Down album.
Sure, Mezmerize isn't quite as quirky and weird as the eponymous debut. It might not be as loud and immediate as either Toxicity or Steal This Album but it certainly has something. It is intelligent and at times, unpredictable. It doesn't rely on the same basic chord progressions that so many other major artists do. It doesn't swagger with the same sort of self-important, mainstream arrogance that has become a staple of any post-Limp Bizkit / Korn popular hard rock band. It doesn't immediately play to the same understandings of contemporaries, or the fan bases of these contemporaries. It does something else, and something that no other band in SOAD's position is willing to do right now.
It has its quirky moments. Of course it does. Musically and lyrically ("My cock is much bigger than yours") "Cigaro" is a classic System of a Down song, but Mesmerize is more than that. A lot more. It doesn't have to rely on a weird, random act to surprise. It still does, of course, occasionally surprise, but the surprise factor isn't the backbone anymore. It doesn't need to be. While sticking to many of the same formulae that have got them this far, SOAD have created an album that doesn't sound like any of their others.
It's faster, slower, harder, mellower, every other comparative you want to attach to it, and everything in between all at once. The tempo and nature of each song bounces about even more erratically. The greater use of Daron Malakian's vocals, the eastern folk breakdown of "Radio/Video" and the larger number of instruments used all hint at influences and concepts that haven't been explored before. Yet, through all of this growth, they have also managed to do the most difficult thing - contain it within the same eclectic and often erratic and eccentric bounds that each of the other offerings has been. Above everything else, it is a System of a Down album.
This is why SOAD are so important to mainstream rock music right now. They are one of the few bands to achieve and maintain the popular culture acceptance that they have without compromising any of their ingenuity and passion. They are one of the few bands out there that can make popular music and make it both relevant and good, and most importantly of all, they are one of the very very few bands that have the ability to create something that can stand alone as a complete and new opus, while still making it all instantly recognizable.
Before you write System of a Down off, at least take the time to sit down and listen to at least one of their albums in its entirety. Give this album, and more importantly, the band, the attention that they merit. Don't write them off because they are System of a Down. That is nothing more than what both the band and the album deserve.
