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Band Name: System Of A Down
Album Name: Hypnotize
Rating: 4 / 5 User Rating: 3.4 / 5
Label: Columbia Records
Buy Album: Amazon.com
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Tracklist
1. Attack
2. Dreaming
3. Kill Rock 'N Roll
4. Hypnotize
5. Stealing Society
6. Tentative
7. U-Fig
8. Holy Mountains
9. Vicinity Of Obscenity
10. She's Like Heroin
11. Lonely Day
12. Soldier Side
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At first listen I thought 'Hypnotize' was going to fail in comparison to 'Mezmerize' but with the second lap around their spiritual, political and epic track, the band still proves to be one of the best acts in popular music.
'Hypnotize' being the second installment, one can already guess there will be a difference, and there sure is, not just in sound but approach. The songs on 'Mezmerize' were upbeat in ways of riffs, progressions, and approach. The songs were still aggressive and pained but they had a very upbeat rock vibe to them. With 'Hypnotize' the tone has shifted, the contents of song themes are still System of a Down but as you can hear in the songs 'Dreaming' and 'Holy Mountains', there is a much darker tone.
Amongst the darker feel of the album the band takes from all walks of music once again creating endless amounts of referencing finds. Examples that you can hear amongst the album are those present in 'Holy Mountains', 'Stealing Society', 'Dreaming', and 'Vicinity of the Obscene'. I won't give a song by song analysis, there's not enough time in this review for that but the influences and references are clear. 'Attack' opens the album the way every System of a Down opens, with a kick in the molars. In 'Stealing Society' this excellent 50's rock slash Misfits type part comes up and just urges you to clap along with the drum track. 'Dreaming' is like a big old time epic forward to war type song; of course the song is not encouraging war, but rather a war against the higher powers. 'Vicinity of the Obscenity' is one of the band's most demented songs, most technical song (for System that is), and almost scary, it is a song that is one of the reasons why this band is who they are, and will have you wondering just what a banana has to do with terracotta pie. The Armenian influences are still very strong as well as most of you have already heard on the title track, as well as throughout the album as Daren and Surge continue to make themselves quite a vocal duo.
There is a large amount going on in this album some very huge passages make there way especially in 'Holy Mountains' whose main riff progression towards the end sounds similar the Munsters theme, whether that was intentional or not or whether or not you agree, it's fantastic. 'U-Fig' and 'Tentative' carry on the finger pointing with vocal stylings from surge that suggest maybe he should try opera or at least a Broadway musical. 'She's Like Heroin', 'Vicinity of the Obscenity', is another one of those well humored but screwed up wacky System songs, bringing the ways of experimental type songs into an accessible light.
The end of the album wraps up quite slow and dismal, slow ballads are the theme for the end. 'Lonely Day' and 'Soldiers Side Outro' paint a pretty sad picture which further concludes the darker tone of the album but a great finish none the less. 'Hypnotize' is simply great, and equals 'Mezmerize' and the chance to play each album back to back is even more of a trip. This band is way ahead of their time, and though that statement looks familiar it's probably because it's usually associated with System of a Down.
Review by: Dave Huffy
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