A Quick Hit: SOAD 25 Years
System of a Down by System of a Down (1998).
The self-titled debut album from L.A.’s premiere All-Armenian rock band still rips like it did back in the day.
System of a Down (SOAD) saved the late 90s rock scene from a complete nü metal implosion, but (ironically) got lumped into that puss bucket despite not sounding like their contemporaries in that genre. Yes, their now 25-year-old debut album, System of a Down, is heavy at times. The band’s sound, especially on this album, swings from heavy riffs to frenetic rhythms track to track, shifting within the tracks. The band and this self-titled debut are dynamic the way dynamite is destructive.
I was late to the System of a Down party. “Sugar” spent a month on the alt-rock radio station rotation before the album dropped on June 30, 1998, but those tracks didn’t quite sink their hooks into me.
I didn’t understand SOAD then, but a couple of years later, I was in a friend’s car heading out to go skateboarding somewhere, and he put on Toxicity. He’d just copped that album, so it was fresh off the rack. The albums started and “Prison Song” dropped, and it was a wrap. I bought that CD the next day, and a few months after that, I bought the self-titled album. That was my backwards introduction to the band.
Toxicity is a better album; I think its peaks are astounding. They tower over a couple of that album’s weaker tracks. System of a Down is more consistent experience. It’s fucking bonkers all the way through—but it isn’t random chaos. This is violent design; it is aggressive memorial for Armenian genocide; it is an absolute assault religious pedophilia and war; commentary on CIA mind-control; and a reflection on life. It is a form of alternative sonic therapy via thirteen doses of alternative metal.
SOAD.
Twenty-five years later, System of a Down still serves as part of the perfect soundtrack for a road trip because it’ll keep you awake, and it’ll help you cut down on travel time. If this album is cranking through your car’s speakers on while you’re behind the wheel, there’s no way you’re driving under 75 miles per hour. System of a Down is a lightning-fueled burst of energy you could use to throttle your workouts or at any moment in your life. It’s safer and less addictive than cocaine.
Favorite Track
“Soil”
Whoever or whatever inspired this track—without doing any research, I’m guessing it was a friend’s suicide—I feel the pain. The music and Serj’s voice carry the anger and heaviness of such a loss, and it transcends the medium.
Also, I love the breakdown and guitar solo.
Yeah, the sound quality sucks, but imagine being there for this show.
