System of a Down Is 'Mezmerizing' More and More Fans

Once upon a time, rock bands atop Billboard's album chart relied on good looks, cotton-candy lyrics and pop sensibility that was short on substance and long on style. (Think Def Leppard.) But when grunge hurtled into the music atmosphere in the early '90s, those bands quickly became dinosaurs and were all but wiped out. Since then, chart-topping rock acts have exhibited remarkable diversity. This year, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Thomas, Audioslave and the Dave Matthews Band have all debuted at No. 1—hardly groups you'd expect to see on tour together.

Now you can add System of a Down to that list. After steadily garnering more and more critical praise since its arrival in 1998, System now releases its fourth album, Mezmerize. It proves that the group's singular style (with a dose of vitriolic politics) has connected with a new generation of fans—in a big way.

The Sound and the Fury
Though System's first album debuted during the booming nu-metal era, slapping a genre label on this SoCal quartet is no easy feat. The band's thrash-meets-punk, prog-meets-pop sound defies categorization. Fierce, staccato outbursts—some of which are impossible to understand without a lyric sheet—compete with grinding metallic riffs one minute, then morph into melodic choruses the next. Rolling Stone critic Neil Strauss practically runs out of breath describing System's sound: "Angry sociopolitical metal gives way to frothy pop chants, which spontaneously burst into Armenian circus music and then fade into progressive rock or glam rock or grind-core or silence."

Did he say "Armenian circus music"? Indeed. One of the interesting ties that binds the band members is the fact that all four come from Armenian-American families. And their Armenian roots (the central Asian republic of Armenia is a land scarred by genocide) seem to give rise to more than sonic style: Ardent pacifism and a passion for justice permeate System's fury-laden songs.

Profane, Poignant ... and Ridiculous
The first single, "B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs)," asserts that the poor are victimized by those in power ("Why don't presidents fight the war?/Why do they always send the poor?"). The band responds to its own questions by screaming, "Where the f--- are you?" to the rich and powerful whose decisions put them in harm's way. System mixes profanity and political critique again on "Cigaro," which satirically and obscenely describes political leaders as those with the biggest penises. These politicians are "the propagators of genocide/Burning through the world's resources."

Making a 180-degree turn from that kind of intensity is "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song," which repeats the phrase "Gonorrhea gorgonzola" over and over again. What do cheese and the threat of a sexually transmitted disease have to do with one another? Yeah, it's unclear to me, too.

When not unleashing furious verbal volleys on political targets or creating odd plays on words, the band has insightful, even poignant, moments. "Sad Statue" criticizes American involvement in Iraq but also describes forgiveness as "the ultimate sacrifice" and compels us to consider the importance of caring for those who suffer ("What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?"). System condemns sexualized violence in "Violent Pornography" (again using vulgarity to make their point): "It's a violent pornography/Choking chicks and sodomy/The kinda s--- you get on your TV." The song concludes, "Turn off your TV/Can you say 'brainwashing'?/It's a non-stop disco." Further on, the album offers two other songs that also critique the vacuous, vicious nature of Hollywood.

Problems With the System
System of a Down is unlike anything on the airwaves today. Disagree with the band's politics all you want to, but it's clear they're passionate about decrying injustice where they perceive it. And as noted, several songs offer stingingly accurate criticism of pop culture's shallowness.

It's too bad that rage and vulgarity overwhelm the album's positive messages. But that's apparently in sync with the band's overall attitude toward life. Guitarist Daron Malakian told one interviewer, "People sometimes say our music is kind of 'schizophrenic.' And yeah, it is kind of schizophrenic. That's because we live in a crazy f---ing society."

Schizophrenic, then, is perhaps the word that best captures System of a Down. Just when you find yourself agreeing with something, a burst of profanity or rage makes you wince. In the end, just like so many others in its peer group (Green Day, for example), System is as short on constructive criticism as it is long on creative, profane rants about what's wrong with the world.