Genre: Alternative Metal, Nü-Metal
Label Number: CK 62240
AllMusic Review by Eduardo Rivadavia
☠: Selected by Lass
© 2001 American RecordingsAllMusic Review by Eduardo Rivadavia
System of a Down's
1998 debut was initially overlooked by the mainstream hard rock
audience, as well as the specialized press. But heavy metal cognoscenti
in both camps quickly realized that in their hands was a potentially
crucial stepping stone for the future development of heavy metal. Sure
enough, so challenging and groundbreaking were its contents that the
album soared over most everyone's unsuspecting heads, its eventual gold
sales status only achieved via Columbia Records' massive promotional
muscle and nearly three years of intensive touring on the band's part.
Consequently, early believers were pleasantly surprised when 2001's long
awaited follow-up, Toxicity
met with instant popular acceptance, skyrocketing up the charts toward
multi-platinum success. Yet, for the most part, it also managed to
retained SOAD's
unorthodox signature sound: so-called "nu-metal" uniquely infused with
remarkable originality, including angular riffs, jagged rhythms, and
oblique lyrics splattered all over the place. Like its predecessor, Toxicity
seems utterly chaotic upon first listen, but things quickly begin
falling into place, thanks to a number of small refinements, not least
of which is a more generous melody, obviously pre-meditated, but rarely
overdone. In turn, this immediacy greatly improved the album's chances
at radio -- case in point, first single "Chop Suey!," a track so potent
not even September 11, nor mainstream radio's ensuing self-imposed,
politically correct attempt at self-censorship, could tear from the
airwaves (despite its none-too-discreet lyrics about suicide), the
song's surprising success was reminiscent of another left-field hit from
a decade earlier, Faith No More's
"Epic" (hear its piano-led outro for proof). And sure enough, from the
unexpected false starts of "Prison Song" to the relatively mellow
conclusion, the band's heightened commercial sensibility continues to
joust with their inherently quirky songwriting. The excellent title
track, "Forest," and "Science" are among the most accessible standouts
from an incredibly diverse set, the likes of which SOAD's
inferior nu-metal peers could only hope to emulate. Lyrically, it's
simply no contest. Whether tackling typical rock subject matter like
drug abuse ("Needles") and groupies ("Psycho"), or embarking on
inscrutable Dadaist gems like "Jet Pilot" and "Shimmy," co-songwriters Daron Malakian and Serj Tankain sound like are the bastard children of Frank Zappa and Slayer. And while sub-Rage Against the Machine
political invective (unfairly attributed to their Armenian heritage)
remains an integral part of the band's creative makeup (e.g. "Deer
Dance," "Atwa"), Toxicity's
approach is much more cautious in this regard than that of their
incendiary debut. In conclusion, when a band takes this many left turns,
you'd expect them to start going in circles sooner rather than later,
but this is not the case with System of a Down. Hands down one of 2001's top metal releases, Toxicity may well prove to be a lasting heavy metal classic to boot.
tags: system of a down, toxicity, 2001, flac,
Dear Lass, Chopsuey is broken... tried downloading thrice to see if there is a problem with my system... The track plays 1-3 secs and that's it... Hope you can re-upload. TIA
ReplyDeleteI just checked it on my PC and it works just fine 😟 I played the file with Foobar2000 and with VLC player. Are you using something other player? Mobile player perhaps?
DeleteOh my! It does play with foobar2000. I'm on Windows 10 and only testing tracks with windows media player before I transfer them to my phone. I just transferred and played with Poweramp and glad it pushed though. Sorry for the trouble, Lass...
ReplyDeleteIt's ok love ☺ The default Windows media player doesn't support FLAC out of the box with downloading an extension first (it does this automatically once a file is played) but, Foobar2000 and VLC player plays FLAC without any problems. You can also download VLC player for iOS and Android. 👍
DeleteHello, The .ACC link appears to be down, could you please reup. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe links have been updated.
Deletethank you Lass!
Delete