Mezmerize

Katherine gave this album on 2007-12-29.

I first heard this album long before the launch of Ballweb. My brother, John, and I were driving around Memphis in those heady days when gas was less than two dollars a gallon. I was talking about "BYOB" (which I had just heard on the radio) saying that the composition was interesting but confusing as it didn't seem like the group knew exactly what genre it wanted to be. John asked if I had heard the whole album and popped it in to the car's CD player. After listening to the whole work, I saw that System of a Down (SoaD) wasn't suffering from genre confusion, but was exploring new territory for metal.

Mezmerize with its blend of Eastern, metal, pop and ballad reveals music that can appeal to the metal head and his mother alike. This album embraces whimsy and humor a bit more that the sister album, Hypnotize. There are still message driven songs (namely "BYOB"), but songs like "Cigaro", "This Cocaine make me feel...", and "Violent Pornography" have more of the ridiculous about them than the political.

Overall, Mezmerize is a little more straight metal than I prefer to hear from SoaD. They are gifted with two vocalists with distinct and downright beautiful voices, especially when they sing the extended contrapuntal harmonies that carry some of the clearest Eastern influences. There are moments of genius in this album especially in the poignant "Question!" and "Lost in Hollywood". It's a good album, and from any other group it would be a great album, but it's fair to hold SoaD to a higher standard because they are capable of better work.

Track	Name		Carson	Katherine		Track	Name		Carson	Katherine
1.	Soldier Side - Intro					7.	Violent Pornography
2.	B.Y.O.B.					8.	Question!
3.	Revenga					9.	Sad Statue
4.	Cigaro					10.	Old School Hollywood
5.	Radio/Video					11.	Lost in Hollywood
6.	This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song