Review: System of a Down - Hypnotize

So I am currently listening to System of a Down and I figured I'd give a short preview/review of what you are going to listen to when you get it.

1. Attack - This song has a great opening riff and it grabs your attention. It takes off from the last record Mezmerize. Though the one thing about the song you'll love is the chorus. It's awesome! It'll be a great live song with ripping guitar and lyrics being screamed out! "WE ATTACK!!!". 9/10

2. Dreaming - This song is another heavy one. Massive double bass at the beginning. Don't be fooled though, the song mellow's out to a melodic choruswith decent guitar and leaves you hanging. Not too bad, probably not going to be anyone's favorite though. 7/10

3. Kill Rock N' Roll - AWESOME SONG! I heard it live back in August and loved it. Starts off kinda mellow and then kicks into a quick pace. It's one of those songs with like many different parts, but it's only close to 3 minutes long. Very melodic throughout though. This band is very good at being heavy, but melodic too which makes it sound really great. "So I felt like the biggest asshole!". 8/10

4. Hypnotize - Ok, so I'm not a fan of this song really. It's not bad though and for the first time it has close to 30 second intro. The song is not too impressive throughout though. They mellow out and have the guitarist singing the melodic lines as usual. "Mezmerize the simple mind!" Later in the song it gets a little upbeat and heavier but that's about it. 7/10

5. Stealing Society - The beginning reminds me of Cigaro off of Mezmerize! Very upbeat beginning and it pretty much continues throughout the song. The vocals are kinda weak I think though. It's not going to be one of my favorite I don't think... It's rather boring and repetitive till the end just leaves you hanging! 7/10.

6. Tentative - Very cool beginning. Kinda eerie! Some of the best vocals I've heard yet. The chorus is rather melodic kicking back into that really cool riff that you hear in the beginning. I love it! I find the track to be one of the best so far! It actually has women's voices singing a melody in some of it. It sounds really nice! 9/10

7. U-Fig - Has a quite beginning but again don't be fooled because it kicks into high gear with lots of screaming! In the middle it has some quite guitar before it kicks into HEAVY screaming and then back to quite again and then right back into the uptempo chorus. It's a crazy sounding song but all in all has great feel! 8/10

8. Holy Mountains - Hands down, the best song on the record. Very melodic beginning before kicking into this great riff. This will be a fan favorite I'm sure. The song itself packs some punch leading up to the chorus! Heavy screaming, singing about warfare. If you listen closely you can definently hear some orchestra too. I'm really in love with this song here. "LIAR! KILLER! DEMON!". For the way the song sounds, it really doesn't fit those lyrics that's for sure. The song towards the middle kicks into high gear and is just rockin'! 10/10

9. Vicinity of Obscenity - Kind of weird beginning with just the drum sticks... Before kicking into this fast paced riff. The song itself is very differet, one of their goofy tracks shall I say. You won't understand a word he's saying for the most part. Ok, all of a sudden it kicks into 80's disco. I'm trying to figure out the point of this song.. LOL This song is cool and it really cracks me up. I'll give it a good grade just for how strange and different it is. hahahaha 9/10

10. She's Like Heroin - Another kinda weird beginning... A light guitar riff and light drums with Daron singing about heroin. LOL I can tell you that this will be my least favorite song if something amazing doesn't happen. "Selling ass for heroin". So just imagine... lol. "She wants nothing more, than to be a little whore". LOL. 6/10

11. Lonely Day - I've heard good things about this. It starts off with a guitar intro and the guitarist Daron singing the melody. It's rather pretty. Later, it kicks into a light riff before coming back to the beginning melody again. Reminds me of "Lost In Hollywood" from Mezmerize. Though we do have somewhat of a first..... I repeat, Daron plays a small guitar solo... Nothing I'm ever used to which suprises the **** out of me. I like it too! It ends with the intro into Soldier Side.. Just like the transition from Soldier Side to BYOB. 7/10

12. Soldier Side - Rather different from the the first part I'd say. Sounds very different but not bad! Very melodic and has great vocals. "They were crying when their sons left!" Very cool, then it kicks into... "WELCOME!!! TO THE SOLDIER SIDE!!" Very upbeat and has more guitar and sound compared to the first part. I love it! It ends with the guitar part from the first part. Very good way to end the record. Impressive! 9/10


Overall the album in my book will get an 8/10. To tell you the truth, I can see how a person can piece both albums together but then again, I see a more melodic side on this record. It's pretty good and I've enjoyed waiting for this one. System of a Down did it all this year and I'm very impressed overall and I can't wait to see them again! Go out and buy this album, this chapter in the band's lives end with this record.

Ryan

Thanks!! I can't wait to get it, I hope I will have it tomorrow!!

Only taken one listen so far, my only comment as of yet is that its a bit less ... immediate than Mezmerise? And possibly a bit less creative as well, I dunno.

But now the real question ... what order should they be listened to in if you're listening to them as one? Hypnotize first, or Mezmerise?

Has to be Mezmerize... It opens with Soldier Side as Hypnotize ends with Soldier Side...

Ryan

I wasn't a huge fan of Mesmerize, too many silly/quirky songs and too much Daron on lead vocals when Serj is one of the best singers around today. I liked it but whenever I put on Toxicity or the first album they blew it totally out of the water. I found the same thing when I saw them live, it was almost like a religious experience seeing them do Chop Suey with 20,000 singing in unison. Mesmerize lacked that passion for me with the exception of BYOB, Question and Sad Statue. The last song which I forget the name of was good but I wish Serj had sang it. Some of the fun songs were good and that element has always been there but there were too many.

I really like the new one though, Serj takes the lead on more songs and in the main there are more powerful emotional songs. I absolutely love Attack, Dreaming, Kill Rock 'N Roll, Tentative (early favourite) and Holy Mountains and like most of the others. I do miss some of the rants though like 'Don't you realize that evil lives in the mother****ing skin' and 'They're trying to build a prison' etc. Old albums aside though this is a great album and a worthy addition to your record collection.

Had the cd since Friday, so I've had a good few listens through. First thought was, 'I prefer Mezmerize' but, a couple of listens later I finally 'got it'.

My fears were that this era wasn't going to have much in the way of structure. The band were simply going to throw 20ish good songs together to keep us happy, and the idea of making it a two part thing was simply to keep us hooked and waiting for the next part. I stand corrected. Where the Soldier Side intro opened Mezmerize, it didn't seem to serve any purpose at all, apart from being a skip track. Listening to Hypnotize and I finally realise... Soldier Side has to be the best way to finish the concept as a whole. What an awesome ending! Feeling? Passion? Emotion? This song is all that, it brings the two albums to a magnificent end. It's hard to decribe in words how this song made me feel, and how amazed I was when I heard it. My point is, I knew SOAD were a good band, they have the ability to write and record great songs, but this confirmed for me that they should go down as a legendry band. They clearly know what they're doing.

So, I've jabbered on about that one song but what does the album have to offer before you reach the grand finale? You have everthing from the loud (Attack), the crazy (Vicinity of Obscenity) and the gloomy (Lonely Day). Hypnotize does everything a good System Of A Down album should do, well. Bring it together with it's associate and you have the best musical concept you will hear from a modern rock band.