The band is Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Serj Tankian (keyboards, vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass) and John Dolmayan (drums), with Tankian and Malakain responsible for all the lyrics and music on the album. Odajian contributed to the musical portion on a few tracks. There are several songs that reflect the band's Armenian heritage in the musical portions and create an atmosphere you just don't hear on a metal album. But, it's a better album for that slightly Middle Eastern tinge to the melodies. The more European way of writing lyrics that are repeated over and over can get irritating at times though.

Some of the subject matter is so right on you wonder why nobody else has brought it up before in this particular "in your face" manner. Other subject matter is so whacked you question their views and values. Some lyrics are clear and to the point, others are so couched in symbolism you don't have a clue what they're talking about unless you've read or heard about them someplace else. This was definitely a difficult band and album to review because of all of the above.

The opening track of the album, "Prison Song," combines serious thrash metal with heavy-handed vocals and a theme that I think most people would agree with. There are sing-song spoken word portions spouting statistics that point out the absolutely ridiculous state of affairs our laws and prisons are in, with mandatory sentencing for mostly drug related crimes, while murderers go free to make room in an already way over-crowded prison system. But, the song lyrics themselves try to tackle so many subjects related to these facts, that they would have no effect without another section of actual spoken word. Other lyrics are just plain weird and the way they're vocalized makes them even more weird. This song is one example of the contradictions I mentioned before. There is an important message here, but the way it's handled both lyrically and musically, pretty much buries the message in a bunch of nonsense. Nice try though.

"Needles" opens with a small guitar intro, then goes thrash metal again. It's very percussion driven, but it's NOT the drum and bass over rap. There is a melody and the vocal is sung. However, this is one of those songs full of symbolism that sort of does and sort of doesn't make a point. It's about a tapeworm (parasite) that rules the body and the word "needles" isn't even mentioned until almost the end of the song. My interpretation is some kind of injectable drug addiction is represented by the "tapeworm," but I wouldn't swear to it. The oft repeated chorus of "Pull the tapeworm out of your ass, hey!" almost sounds like some kind of chant you would hear in a Russian Cossack type song. As the song progresses the music becomes more melodic and there are some good harmonies. The final section goes back to pure thrash.

The next song, "Deer Dance," is very political in nature. Again SOAD is making a specific and valid point, but this time it's done in VERY straight forward lyrics, so there's no guessing what this song is about. Dropping things down a notch to a very heavy metal percussion and bass line, with an odd guitar note dropped in here and there at the beginning, the vocal during the first verse is back to the sing-song type of lyric. The first part of the chorus is very melodic in a melancholy way. But, when the major portion of the chorus kicks in, things go into thrash metal mode with a huge growled vocal. (NOTE: There are very few lyrics on this album that you can't understand just by listening. You don't have to sit and read them to know what the band is saying.) The theme of this song is simply police brutality, and there are some very expressive lyrics like ". . .with rubber bullet kisses/ Baton courtesy/ Service with a smile." The main chorus that is repeated over and over is very chilling, "Pushing Little Children/ With their fully automatics/ They like to push the weak around . . ." After the first chorus there is a very melodic section backed by some great guitar riffs, but when the chorus kicks in again, and is repeated, it returns to full on thrash.

"Jet Pilot" doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense to me. I don't have a clue what the song is supposed to be about, but musically and vocally it's extremely fast thrash. The vocal is melodic in places and very creative. That's about all I can say about this song. "X" starts with very fast, fingered guitar and an undertone of a bass/percussion line, then gets extremely heavy as the whole band gets into high gear, but it's heavy metal, not thrash. It's got a good melody going in the long instrumental intro. The vocal goes back and forth between singing and growling and a fast drum beat accompanies the vocal portion. The lyric almost entirely consists of "We don't need to multiply." I guess this one is about over population.

"Bounce" is a very strange song with a little bit of everything in it. Weird lyrics, some thrash, some real heavy metal melodies and WAY out there vocals. It's also very short. "Forest" starts with a fast guitar riff that moves up the musical scale then gets into heavy metal with kind of a double beat. The lyrics of the verse are more melodic than sing-song and the chorus has a very big melodic hook. This is another song where I'm not going to venture a guess at what it's about.

Personally, the next song and what's behind it turned me off immediately. "ATWA" is about serial killer Charles Manson's point-of-view on the environment. I didn't know he had an opinion! "I'm trying to show the other side of the story," says Malakian. "I'm in agreement with him when it comes to the environment. Everybody in the band objects to murder, but that's not my issue on this. When I think of Charles Manson, I don't think of murder," Malakian continues. "It would be an honor to meet him. I think he is one of the most important people of the century." Manson is also among the prisoners Malakian would like to see freed. Huh?? In my opinion, if there was ever a nut case out there, Manson is the prize example. He may care about the environment, although how much can he know about it first hand, but God help us all if he ever gets out of prison! As far as the song goes, if you don't know the above history about it, you won't know it's about Manson. Even more weird is the quiet, melodic vocals and harmonies that open this song. The chorus goes thrash and the lyric is "You don't care about how I feel/ I don't feel it any more," repeated 4 times before going back to the melodic verses. There are some great harmonies and vocals on this song, as well as instrumentals, so I can't fault the song itself. It's very well done and has a great musical hook. The subject matter behind it is another story! 

The title track, "Toxicity," opens with simple guitar notes and then is tromped by a two note crash from the whole band. This is another heavy rather than thrash song with a lot of unusual beats. The lyrics are full of symbolism here, but the line "The Toxicity of our city/ Of our city," runs throughout the song. The song is heavy on the instrumental side, while the way the lyrics are presented is melodic but very angry. I think there's a thread of anger about a lot of things on this album, but the anger is very apparent on this song.

"Psycho" makes fun of coked out groupies and to emphasize the point, Malakian plays his guitar with a vibrator. Starting with a serious bass line then guitars playing an odd tune over it, the first vocal comes in as a shout of each word "Psycho/ Groupie/ Cocaine/ Crazy," followed by that kind of sing-song delivery of the verse toward the beginning. As the song progresses the verse is sung melodically and sounds sympathetic. There's a great guitar riff and instrumental that finishes the song, and that tinge of Middle Eastern sound shows up once again.

"Aerials" is the last listed song on the album and starts with melodic acoustic guitar. It sounds like there is a string section in the background at the beginning, but I'm not positive. This track is the one I most enjoyed on the album. The lyrics paint a picture on this one, and the music is great. An example of the lyric in about the middle of the song:

"Aerials/ In the sky/ When you lose your small mind/ You free your life/ Life is a waterfall/ We drink from the river/ Then we turn around and put up our walls . . ." It's a hard rock song with a really terrific melody, vocals and harmonies. It also leans a little harder on the Middle Eastern sound between the massive guitar riffs. The instrumental bridge in the middle leads into the melody of the chorus, which is performed as harmonies, then a single voice, then harmonies again that are "aaahs" rather than words. A really cool song. 

There is a very brief instrumental called "outro" that closes the record. This one has a full on Middle Eastern sound from some type of wind instrument, then percussion from gourds(?) and some type of scrape across rough wood (can't think of the name for this) and a ululating voice, low pitched chant and bird calls on top of the music. Finally, some unusual, but very awesome, "ooh/aah" type harmonies are layered over it all. I usually hate hidden tracks, but this one is worth listening to and ends way too soon.

After listening to this album many times and then analyzing it for this review, my opinion of SYSTEM OF A DOWN and their music has changed dramatically. At first I was critical of the lyrics and subject matter and was ready to lump them with some of these rap/metal, thrash trying to be rock bands. Some songs do sound that way, but overall this is an intelligent, politically insightful and very well thought out album. The music is far more interesting and original than typical thrash metal or hard rock bands. The lyrics are sometimes too hard to figure out what the band is trying to say, but for the most part, they get their point across.