CD Review: System of a Down – System of a Down (Box)

Written by Sebastian Huhn Tuesday, 17 May 2011 13:53

soad_box
Artist: System of a Down
Title: System of a Down (Box)
Genre: Alternative Metal
Release Date: 10th June 2011
Label: Sony Music

Album Review

Ladies and gentlemen it’s true SOAD are back in town. Well, not already but for now they’re back together because they’re want to play together a few concerts for their daring fans all over the world. While there are no concrete plans for a new album the moment I’m writing this we have to stick what was and what still is in the fan’s minds. The five albums that underpin the band’s status as being one of the most innovative, squeezing more ideas into one song than others do on an entire album. Beginning of June a precious box will be released holding all the albums, starting with the career’s kick-off, the self-titled debut album, erratic, inventive and establishing them as a force to reckon with ‘Toxicity’ followed it up back in 2001 and again they’ve thrown into the ring some exciting music on a silver disc highlighting Daron’s and Serj’s vocals on a sonic carpet of protean arrangements ranging from hard attacks like those on the ‘Prison Song’ broken by soft interludes like on the ‘Prison Song’, or beasts like ‘Jet Pilot’ and ‘Bounce’.

‘Steal this Album!’ is depicting the appearance of a simple copy of an album with no booklet and no artwork whatsoever. The materials included on this CD are tracks from the same sessions bringing up the multi-platinum album ‘Toxicity’. It’s meant by the band to close up the ‘Toxicity’ project and make room for new stuff. The tracks continue in the same vein as on the mentioned album, but in regards to freakiness they‘re kicking it up a few notches on this release in my opinion. I can almost see them jumping around like mad men in the studio. ‘Mesmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’ are a unity. They’re like two sides of a medal just not that contradictory as the metaphor usually indicates. But they’re contradictory in themselves with the band juggling influences on each track making it impossible for the listener to get them all in the first run, and that’s what’s making these albums so intriguing to the present day. Unfortunately these were the last, but hope never dies and since there’s a live reunion .a studio reunion isn’t that far-fetched is it?

All these albums are being packaged in a beautiful box in separate slipcases, including all the original booklets, except for ‘Steal This Album!’, whereas especially having those digipaks of the last two albums in mind it’s too bad they didn’t include those. Anyway, if you didn’t get to buy the albums as yet here’s your chance to get them all in a single strike in a box that looking good in every collection. A remastering of the albums would’ve been cool though.

Tracklist

CD1 “System of a Down”
01. Suite-Pee - 2:31
02. Know - 2:56
03. Sugar - 2:33
04. Suggestions - 2:44
05. Spiders [Explicit] - 3:35
06. DDevil - 1:43
07. Soil - 3:25
08. War - 2:40
09. Mind - 6:16
10. Peephole - 4:04
11. CUBErt - 1:49
12. Darts - 2:42
13. P.L.U.C.K.

CD2 “Toxicity”
01. Prison Song - 3:21
02. Needles - 3:14
03. Deer Dance - 2:55
04. Jet Pilot - 2:06
05. X - 1:59
06. Chop Suey! - 3:30
07. Bounce - 1:54
08. Forest - 4:00
09. ATWA - 2:56
10. Science - 2:43
11. Shimmy - 1:51
12. Toxicity - 3:39
13. Psycho - 3:46
14. Aerials - 6:11

CD3 “Steal This Album”
01. Chic 'N' Stu - 2:24
02. Innervision - 2:34
03. Bubbles - 1:57
04. Boom! - 2:15
05. Nüguns - 2:30
06. A.D.D. - 3:17
07. Mr. Jack - 4:10
08. I-E-A-I-A-I-O - 3:09
09. 36 - 0:46
10. Pictures - 2:06
11. Highway song - 3:14
12. Fuck The System - 2:13
13. Ego Brain - 3:22
14. Thetawaves - 2:37
15. Roulette - 3:21
16. Streamline - 3:38

CD4 “Mezmerize”
01. Soldier Side - Intro - 1:04
02. B.Y.O.B. - 4:15
03. Revenga - 3:48
04. Cigaro - 2:12
05. Radio/Video - 4:09
06. This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song - 2:08
07. Violent Pornography - 3:31
08. Question! - 3:21
09. Sad Statue - 3:26
10. Old School Hollywood - 2:57
11. Lost In Hollywood - 5:21

CD5 “Hypnotize”
01. Attack - 3:06
02. Dreaming - 4:00
03. Kill Rock 'N Roll - 2:28
04. Hypnotize - 3:09
05. Stealing Society - 2:58
06. Tentative - 3:37
07. U-Fig - 2:55
08. Holy Mountains - 5:29
09. Vicinity Of Obscenity - 2:52
10. She's Like Heroin - 2:44
11. Lonely Day - 2:48
12. Soldier Side - 3:40

Line-Up

Daron Malakian - Guitar, Vocals
Serj Tankian - Lead vocals, Keyboard
Shavo Odadjian - Bass, Back-Vocals
John Dolmayan - Drums

Website

http://www.systemofadown.com/

Cover Picture

soad_box

Rating