System of a Down - System of a Down (1998)

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH \m/

System of a Down are a bit of an anomaly when it comes to music, both concerning their actual music and how crazy their career is: Four Armenian guys playing weird metal songs, who proceed to blow up in fame on MTV, the radio and the sort, and damn near EVERYONE was a fan of them! There is absolutely no way that another band could replicate that same kind of success now. They came in at just the right time in American culture, and damn, even in the odd year of 2016, we still love the shit out of them. They just can't be replicated.

Built up of vocalist Serj Tankian, who is a bit of an acquired taste, guitarist Daron Malakian who may go down in history not for his soloing skills, but his pulverizing riffs, bassist Shavo Odadjian who honestly doesn't get too much time to himself in the spotlight, and drummer John Dolmayan to nail out some tight grooves, these four Armenian men came through with a debut album that was intended to grab metal and give it a much-needed shake. Heavy without being monotonous, and weird without being a novelty act. 

On this album, we find System of a Down at arguably their heaviest and darkest, thrashing their way through the entire album from intro track "Suite Pea" to outro "P.L.U.C.K.", rarely taking a moment to stop and let themselves breathe, aside from some calmer moments occasionally on the album, but do not fear, this is NOT an album that ever lets up completely, or with a weaker half. I mean, just listen to the first three songs: "Suite Pea", "Know", and "Sugar" are JAMS OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE! Catchy, powerful, and tasty as hell riffs populate the entire album like flies on shit, or rather, mushrooms on cow dung, which brings me to my next point:

The music can be a complete mushroom trip in itself, with the lyrics portraying shit they obviously must've been on drugs to even imagine, and even the music gets infected by the magic spores of creativity, such as in "Peephole", where the entire song sounds like a mushroom trip put into audio form, complete with heavy moments, perhaps to symbolize a bad trip. Either way, these guys were on some shit, and if you know where I can get it, please let me know, so I can slip some into my dad's food and watch as he creates a metal album from scratch. Dad-rock? That shit sucks! Dad-metal?! SIGN ME UP!!

The entire album has such a killer groove to it when it wants to. Listen to the beginning of "Ddevil" where bassist Shavo Odadjian plays a silly little riff repeatedly, and then guitarist Daron Malakian comes barges in with a guitar riff mimicking it, or even the awesome intro to "Soil" where the drums come crashing in. Basically, the instrumental guys in SOAD, without resorting to technical wankery, can hold down a nasty groove for vocalist Serj Tankian to sing, scream (his death growls sound monstrous), or just make weird noises over, almost like a foreign-sounding Mike Patton.

System of a Down: Come for the catchy weirdness, stay around for the social commentary. They have a voice to reach and teach a huge audience about the Armenian genocide quite emotionally so in outro track "P.L.U.C.K.", and they certainly get their frustration, sadness, and hope for a better tomorrow across in an emotional and gripping way. Sure, sometimes they use that voice to talk about cumming on a girl's feet, but hey, wouldn't we all? At the end of the day, you're left with a killer album with trippy lyrics, powerful riffs, and a vocalist unlike anyone else in the scene. What more could you want out of a debut?

Unrelated side note but my brother used to think the chorus of "War?" wasn't "WE WILL FIGHT THE HEATHENS, WE WILL FIGHT THE HEATHENS!", but rather, "WAIT FOR SOMA KITO, WAIT FOR SOMA KITO!" and that Soma Kito was their busdriver. He must've been on the same shit these guys were. I miss that guy. He's not dead, just dead to me after beating my ass with Little Mac in Super Smash Bros by spamming those dash-punches. The community of GameFAQs would describe that as being "literally worse than Hitler."

8/10
________________________________________________________
Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!