I just walked home in a driving
rain storm. Now that I’ve changed out of a sodden suit and tie and into dry jeans
and a T-shirt I feel like myself again…in multiple ways.
Disc 799 is….Toxicity
Artist: System of
a Down
Year of Release: 1990
What’s up with the Cover? Against all odds System of a Down
was able to reorder the letter in the Hollywood Hills to spell the band’s name.
Take that, Sunday Scramble!
How I Came To Know It: As I noted when I reviewed “Steal
this Album” back at Disc 774, my friend Spence bought me this album.
Spence is one of my ‘go to’ sources for new music and shall remain so despite this
less than ringing endorsement of “Toxicity.”
How It Stacks Up: After giving away “Steal This Album” I only
have this one System of Down album so there isn’t really anything left to stack
up against.
Ratings: 2 stars
As badly as I wanted “Toxicity” to redeem System of
a Down after my experience with “Steal This Album” it was not to be. These guys
just don’t inspire me to keep listening to them.
First the good stuff. The band is really tight. They
hit hard and clean in and out of the musical breaks, which come at a furious
pace. On a technical basis, I admire their skill. I also admire that they are
trying to do something different and innovative with the metal/hard rock genre.
Generally they don’t sound like anyone else, and that’s not easy.
The music is heavy and pounding, frantic and full of
energy and it has a great crisp production courtesy of Rick Rubin, who really
gets sound separation.
Unfortunately despite all the energy the only
emotion I felt coming through was frustration. I grew up with heavy metal and while
it expresses its fair share of frustration it should have more range than that.
Metal is music can make you feel angry or sad, or triumphant and a whole host
of other things as well, but mostly it is for kids who dream.
Unfortunately, the frustration I felt about the
record wasn’t that of dreams deferred – that would have been OK. It was frustration
with the music itself, which had either no melody or a threadbare one at best.
It thumps away but never quite develops into anything and the songs tend to end
abruptly leaving me to wonder what the point was.
Maybe that is the point, but as I said earlier I was
weaned on metal that inspired you. “Toxicity” feels like music for people who just
like to complain full time.
The song's complaint could be about war, or prisons, or drug laws or the environment – usually it feels
like some kind of amalgamation of all of those – but as I noted on my review
for “Steal This Album” the words are random slogans rather than clever lyrics.
I felt like I was at a rally with a really bad speaker.
Near the end of the record, System of a Down finally
drew me in with a couple of cool tracks. “Psycho”
is about a “psycho groupie cocaine crazy” who makes a lot of unhealthy choices
as she tries to both see the band, and be seen by them. It is a good song with
a nice balance between a slow, grunge-ballad style, and the furious rhythmic thrum
that is System of a Down’s trademark. It even works in a traditional metal
guitar riff that I think is the band imaging the experience of the groupie at
the show in her better moments.
I also like that this song shows that System of a
Down clearly wants fans to be more than mindless followers. I only wish their
other songs gave those fans more to chew on.
The last track “Aerials”
is a very cool track, which is another post-grunge sounding song that has
elements of Queensryche in it. When System of a Down gets their prog on they
definitely channel some Queensryche and I wish they’d do that more often.
“Aerials”
has a hidden track tagged onto the end of it which features some kind of Pan
flute, tribal chants and jungle sounds. I liked this little tonic of something different
at the end of the album and it left me feeling more positive about the record
overall. Not enough to keep it in my collection mind you, but more positive
nonetheless.
Best
tracks: Psycho,
Aerials
