Tuesday, January 13, 2015

#39 - System Of A Down


A very local band, and one of the most popular and well-known on this list, System of a Down hails from Glendale, California.  In fact, principal composer, guitarist and secondary vocalist Daron Malakian went to middle school at the same school my kids will likely attend.  Daron is the only member of the band who was born in the United States.  Singer Serj Tankian and drummer John Dolmayan were born in Lebanon and bassist Shavo Odadjian was born in Armenia, but all three immigrated to California as young children.  The band's lyrics tend to be politically charged, often focusing on American foreign and drug policies and social justice.  The songs "P.L.U.C.K.", from their 1998 debut and "Holy Mountains" from 2005 both decry and call on the Turkish government to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.  Musically, SOAD plays a quirky brand of alternative/nu metal.  The foundational style is one that generally doesn't appeal much to me, but their slant on it is so imaginative, experimental, angular and unexpected, that it's hard not to like.


SOAD's first two albums are wall-to-wall great songs, featuring more death metal grunts and growls than their later, more alternative rock offerings.  On the whole though, their sound has been pretty consistent over the past 17 or so years.  I remember hearing them live in Atlanta in 1999 and having a hard time getting a grasp on them, feeling ambivalent about both the lyrics and the music.  It took some time, but they definitely brought me around.  The turning point was probably when I heard their 2000 cover of Black Sabbath's "Snowblind", which remains one of my two favorite Sabbath covers of all time (along with Type O Negative's "Black Sabbath").  I was going to include an original, "Prison Song" from their second and breakthrough album Toxicity, which is a good example of their unique work, but I hate to pass up the opportunity to share the gem that is "Snowblind".  What the heck?  Here are both, "Prison Song" first, and then their original take on a classic.



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