SYSTEM OF A DOWN - Mezmerize

Awaited by fans and critics alike for the trial by fire of their third album (not counting the outtakes collection "Steal This Album"), System Of A Down deliver "Mezmerize", the first instalment of a project due to be completed in six months' time with its twin, "Hypnotize".

Hailed by some as messiahs of a new metal/hard-rock gospel and dismissed by others as shrewd genre manipulators, Daron Malakian, Serj Tankian & co. have a musical identity all their own, built on sudden accelerations and pauses, on violence interspersed with melodic passages that, given the success they've found, they clearly have no intention of abandoning - if anything, they seem set on pushing them in new directions.

Compared to the excellent "Toxicity", an album warmly received by critics and fans alike that secured them international success, this third record is decidedly more multifaceted: the melodic parts are in places almost pop, the dichotomy between genres becomes more pronounced, and, naturally, "Mesmerize" might at first come across as a confused, lightweight and therefore cynically commercial record.

It has to be said, though, that after careful repeated listens, and bearing in mind the musical scene they operate in, System Of A Down serve up a cocktail of genres with a freshness and stylistic daring that's hard to find in most records released recently in the hard-rock/metal field.

After the intro-ballad of "Soldier Side", we're hit by the opening fury of "B.Y.O.B.", in which the first new elements and the first risks System have chosen to take on this album are already apparent. In terms of possible critical backlash, one risky choice is the use of more commercial pop elements in this track, underlining a kind of mental disorientation that certain music induces in young people, masking the many horrors of today's world.

The novelty, if we can call it that, lies in the more extensive and consistent use of guitarist Daron Malakian's voice, more inclined toward classic metal, alongside the more eclectic and distinctive voice of singer Serj Tankian; although good old Serj, rightly enamored of his own gift, sometimes indulges in vocal runs that are a bit too daring, this interplay of voices seems to be the album's most successful element.

While both "Revenga" and "Cigaro" come in pure S.O.A.D. style, metal drive interrupted by melodic choruses destined to lodge themselves in your head, "Radio/Video" is one of the tracks on which System take the biggest risks, and ultimately one of the best on the record: hard rock is no longer front and center, instead serving as an interlude to an ethno-folk nursery rhyme that turns into reggae, speeds up into a gypsy dance, and closes with one last burst of power.

While certain musical passages and the oddities in the lyrics of "This Cocaine Make Me Feel Like I'm On This Song" reveal an obvious debt to Dead Kennedys, certain passages in "Violent Pornography" and "Sad Statue" clearly recall Bad Religion: either way, the result is three tracks that, despite a few weak spots, remain thoroughly enjoyable.

Hidden among them is the second gem of "Mezmerize": it may be one of the less "elaborate" tracks on the record, but "Question!" is an epic-sweeping ballad that offers the best technical showcase for all four members of the band, chief among them the excellent drummer John Dolmayan.

More distinctive is "Old School Hollywood", a metal/new wave hybrid in which electronic effects blend perfectly with drum crescendos and guitar explosions, producing an absolutely gripping track and one of the best attempts at sonic "innovation" System Of A Down experiment with on this album.

"Mezmerize" closes in a mood of bittersweet tenderness with "Lost In Hollywood", a melancholy ballad entrusted entirely to Daron who, backed by Serj's backing vocals, rails against a gilded world built on falsity and devoid of values, ending the album with a line that's sure to land, but which perhaps — and Malakian and co. know it — could also be aimed at a portion of their ever-growing audience: "All you bitches put your hands in the air and waves like you just don't care".

In conclusion, "Mesmerize" is not inferior to its predecessor ("Toxicity"); it does, however, deserve at least half a point less for the band's decision to release its twin, "Hypnotize", as a separate album; charging around twenty euros for thirty-six minutes of music when another thirty-six were already in the can is a rip-off nobody expects from a band that makes such grand statements.

That aside, "Mezmerize" proves to be a good record, superbly played, about which plenty can be said: that it's more commercially viable because it's more melodic than its predecessors, that it's contradictory in railing against the empty-headedness of party-going young minds while using easily digestible melodies — but it also confirms that System Of A Down are a band unafraid to take risks and put themselves on the line.

In spite of everything, then, the Armenian band remains one of the most important forces on the modern metal scene and beyond.

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02/10/2009