SYSTEM OF A DOWN — Hypnotize (review)

SYSTEM OF A DOWN — Hypnotize album cover Album · 2005 · Alternative Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Pekka
After the mind shattering explosion that was Mezmerize it was clear that nothing that followed could quite live up to it. Hypnotize had a considerably slower start than its predecessor as was expected, but with repeated listens it revealed itself to be if not as good, then pretty damn close.

Hypnotize is really a second half of a double album that Mezmerize started, so much so that their cases could be joined together to form one big digipak. The songs were mostly recorded during the same sessions, so the style is very much the same with less emphasis on chugging metal riffs and more on melody and harmony. Not forgetting the thunderous metal, as the opener Attack shows. Highlights of the album include the blastbeat-turn-heatbreaking harmonies of Dreaming, my favourite air drumming track of all time Holy Mountains, the senseless weirdo She's Like Heroin with its charming "ASS!!" screams and the emotional war song Soldier Side bookending the album with Mezmerize's Soldier Side Intro. The rest of the tracks are great too, but in the middle of the album during Tentative and U-Fig it almost stands still for a moment. If one of them was erased it would have been good, they're just a bit too similar.

Today I've listened to the entire System of a Down discography and come to realize that no matter how brilliant I think this album is, it really might be the least good of their four proper studio albums. Really a fantastic album, but not just enough to earn of that last half of a star.
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more than 2 years ago
Good review man, and pretty much in agreement! The weakest "real" SoaD album that does lag a tad in the middleish there. Still awesome \m/

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