*didnt see this topic yet*
Well, here are my first thoughts; as unbiased as i can be *except the fact that half my rugby team also picked it up earlier today*
My personal opinion: Great CD, frankly, i enjoy the entirety of the album a bit more than Toxicity. It is a bit softer than, say, Spiders, so some may be a little lacking, however...The momentum of the album is great, non-stop good listening all the way through and the songs flowed smooth together. Bringing me to my next point, the album was a bit short for how immersive it seemed to be, i felt slightly lacking that it ended similar to their last 2 albums.
One of my favorite points about the album, is the music, not a bad or less than great song on it. This one was not as politically oriented as past ones(though it seems to have a reoccurring theme throughout the songs). And there are several blatant references to the war in Iraq, though they manage not to put our country down at all and seem to *properly* point any fingers at bureaucrats and indifferent citizens.
Lyrics: For the most part beautifully written, the lyrics on paper read like poetry. They rhyme and alliterate in their songs like hardly any bands in this album more-so than any of their others. IMHO it seems they put a lot more thought into the words than before.
Music: SoaD has seemingly matured in their music every album and this is one doesnt stray from the trend. New sounds and experimentation, using slight synthesizer *though not enough to take away from music like many bands will do*. The drumming is still wonderful though a little less inventive than past albums. At times it seems that they try and force unique rhythm's just so as to make it their own, however if done any other way it wouldn't sound quite as great. Also, one of the few bands to properly use dischords in their music.
Final thoughts: They did it again imho, i think some may be disappointed in this, but only people interested in mindless guitar slapping and meshed sounds who want nothing more than a dose of vellocet molokon and moshing *although they will still be satisfied with several tracks on this*. A little toned down language than others, but their points come across loud. It only has me waiting for more, can't wait for hypnotize...
EDIT:* changed Spider, to Spiders, spell checked...
Yay! A System of a Down topic!
Just bought it this afternoon, and I'm up to Revenga. I'll give an informed opinion about the CD once I've listened to it's entirety.
*only 6 months 'til Hypnotize!*
Aw, no replies?
Pros: I quite enjoyed this album, and I've been listening to pretty much non-stop since I got it yesterday. System has always had their own original style, and this album certainly renenforces it. The thrash metal/Armenien folk music elements are clearly represented. While it may not be as single-worthy as Toxicity, Mezmerize still holds it's own. My favorite songs have to be "Revenga," "Radio/Video," and "Violent Pornography," and "Sad Statue" is growing on me.
The album packaging is awesome. When I heard it was a cardboard CD case, I was disappointed, but once I purchased it, I realized how good it was. Some trippy art is featured on the cover/inside/lyric booklet that guitarist Daron Malakian's father did himself.
Cons: The length. It has 11 songs and is just over 36 minutes long. C'mon, guys. The average number of songs on the previous SOAD albums are 14, and in Steal This Album!'s case, 16. They have another CD (Hypnotize) coming out this fall, so I can't help but think it's kind of a gimmick to get fans to buy both CDs.
So overall, I give this album an 8/10. It'd be higher if it contained more songs than it did, but I'm still happy. I'm not sure if I can compare it to the other SoaD CDs yet since I just got it, but their self-titled release is still my favorite favorite (even though it's not their most innovative).
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