System Of A Down - 'Mezmerize' (American/Columbia) Released 16/05/05

The day Faith No More called it a day, there was suddenly a huge gap in the world of metal. Bands stopped pushing the boundaries, became complacent and either aped other bands or just released the same shit on each new album. The highly intellectual, infinitely funny and wonderfully articulate world in which Faith No More ruled needed a successor and it took a good 5 years to come. At first suspicion surrounded System Of A Down, here was a band who would use gravity defying rhythms and riffs that would explode on contact with vocals and lyrical matter, that ranged from the fiercely political to the insanely bonkers. With this their third album proper (ignoring their odds n sods album ‘Steal This Album’) they’re set to cement their ferocious reputation, and excel everything they’ve done before.

The true strength of this album is the sheer diversity and musical breadth and depth the band freely put on display. We know the band are as muscular as they are intelligent, but never before have they fused so many different elements (everything from Armenian/eastern European/middle eastern folk, thrash, punk, metal, goth, reggae, even new wave with ‘Old School Hollywood’) so perfectly, it has the same fluid motion the last Mars Volta album had, and is all but in name a work of prog-metal genius… The albums lyrical obsession with the realities and fake-ness of Los Angeles (and Hollywood in particular) culminates into a particularly biting attack with the epic album closer ‘Lost In Hollywood’) maybe nothing new, but the way in which they exorcise the places demons is wonderfully refreshing.

Daron Malakian’s burgeoning stronghold within the band is evident throughout the album, with all but one of the songs being written solely by him, and the majority of lyrics too. His voice is all over this album, not just with the occasional manic quip he would put into their older material, but many tracks on this album have him as the vocal focal point. At times it even offers a welcome respite from Serj’s captivating lungs (sounding on many occasions like a stronger, less whiny Jello Biafra), but it also starts to grate about half way through the album. Serj has such a magical voice and it seems a waste to not use it fully. Perhaps this is ego (which is quite possible with Damon’s new Jesus-like image) or perhaps they believe this is for the songs' own merit, but with an album as astounding as this, little gripes don’t matter that much. With another album still to come, quite simply; this is THE metal album of the year. Beg, borrow, and with the bands own advice, steal this album. Truly bloody essential!