Tag Archives: system of a down

#1182: System of a Down ft. RZA – Shame

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So this may actually be one of the greatest covers of all time. But when I first heard it many moons ago, I didn’t realise it was one. The song was on the old computer somehow. Maybe my sister downloaded it, or it was sent to her by a friend through MSN. I’m not sure. But it was there. Now, I definitely wasn’t expecting the N-word to be repeated as much as it was. The young me knew that it was a word that usually shouldn’t be said because music videos usually censored it out. But there was Serj Tankian rapping it, saying it freely with reckless abandon. It didn’t make sense to me ’cause, you know… he’s white. But then after finding out it was a cover of the original Wu-Tang classic, which – heads up – will be the next song featured on here, everything made a lot more sense.

The track is the first one on the Loud Rocks compilation from 2000, which consists of remixes, covers and collaborations between rock and hip hop music artists. I’ve never heard it myself. I’ve just copied what it says on Wikipedia. But being released in the time when nu-metal was probably at its peak in relevancy, I can imagine this album being somewhat popular at the time. System of a Down at this point only had their self-titled debut to their name. Wu-Tang Clan’s third album was on the way. How this cover and collaboration even came to be, I’m not sure. But I’m glad that it did. And what better way to get a seal of approval than for it to feature an original verse by the RZA, the mastermind behind the Wu, who also helps out with the ad libs throughout.

Thinking about this specific cover too, I think it’s meant to be a tribute to fellow Wu-Tang member Ol’ Dirty Bastard in some way. Sometime in 2000, the rapper was incarcerated for a reason or a few, and with the way System arrange the cover, Serj raps both of Ol’ Dirty’s verses from the original. A few lines from Method Man’s verse are missed out, and Raekwon’s verse is omitted altogether to make way for RZA’s new verse. When Serj isn’t rapping, his singing relies on a melodic scale that I can only assume is influenced by their Armenian heritage, made all the much more heavier when those downtuned guitars come in for the massive choruses. Honestly, when Tankian yells “Let’s get together!” before that first one, makes me wanna cannonball into a swimming pool or something. Just immediate screw-facing and headbanging happens with those choruses.

#1081: System of a Down – Question!

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Remember when System of a Down released those new songs a few years back? That was definitely an occasion. It was cool to hear some new stuff after so many years of not releasing anything. It definitely sounded like they were starting right from where they left off. Unfortunately though, both Mezmerize and Hypnotize are my least favourite albums by the group. I do prefer the former than the latter by a small margin. I’m a big fan of the usual back and forth and harminozing dynamic between Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian, a usual feature on SOAD albums. But there was a larger presence of Malakian that I’ve never been to fond of. When it was revealed that Tankian actually wanted to leave the band prior to the album sessions and sort of went through the motions for the recordings, that presence made much more sense. So I do have to hand it to Malakian for holding the reins to get the albums done. Still, just not for me so much.

Over the two albums, there’s only one that’s solely credited to Tankian in terms of the music and lyrics, and that is today’s subject, ‘Question!’. While everyone else trips over ‘B.Y.O.B.’ as the overriding highlight of Mezmerize, I’m listening to ‘Question!’ with as much attention and focus as I did when I first saw the music video back in 2005. The song’s a very dramatic affair, concerning (I think) a narrator who’s about to commit a double-suicide by eating poison berries with their significant other and questions (want to say this is the basis for the song’s title) what will happen after they consume them. Will they actually die? Cease to exist? Or will their spirits live on in another form? As I said, quite dramatic. And that feeling is only intensified by the impassioned wailing harmonies of Tankian and Malakian during the choruses. Like it alludes to in the music video, there’s almost an operatic/theatrical tone to how they’re belting out these notes.

Not only are the vocals something to marvel at. The track is propelled by changing time signatures and shifting moods. You never know what’s coming around the corner. Starting as the album’s previous song is still fading out, the track comes in with a soft acoustic guitar playing in 9/16. The 5/8 main hard rock riff smacks you in the face once that’s over. Then the choruses come in with a waltz-time. There’s a lot of switching between those sections that happens throughout. How Tankian managed to get a beautiful melody into all of this is beyond me. Some would maybe be so focused on the musicality that any sort of melody you’d want to at least hum to would surpass them. But that’s not how it happens in System of a Down. I think I said in the last System of a Down post that sometimes their unusual delivery can be quite overbearing and a little tiring. Something along those lines. You’d think ‘Question!’ would be a prime example. But I never get tired of it. It’s real good stuff.

#1063: System of a Down – Prison Song

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Whoa. The last time I wrote about a song of System of a Down’s was eight years ago, one which marked the beginning of a bit of an hiatus on here while I interned at a music magazine for a year and completed my degree at university for another. According to my links, I’ve written about four (including ‘Hypnotize’) other songs of the band’s on here. While pre-hiatus me was very much into them, the person writing to you now isn’t as much. As much as SOAD songs can be some of the most twisting/turning, zany and intriguing pieces of music you’ll ever hear, they can tire you out hearing them over and over again. Well, at least that’s my case. There’ll be millions of you who’ll completely disagree with that statement. And that’s fine. Not to say that my musical tastes have evolved or matured ’cause there will be times when those four songs pop into my head and I’ll just start singing/vocalizing them out loud. Let’s just say if I was to start this whole thing all over again, those four songs probably wouldn’t be featured.

But. But, but, but. I’ve got a lot of love for ‘Prison Song’ right here, the opener to SOAD’s classic Toxicity album from 2001. A monster of a record. I once heard ‘Prison Song’ many, many years ago on the Yahoo! Launch internet radio service. Wanna say that was around 2005 or something. But I never got ’round to listening to Toxicity in full until about 2014, better later than never. And when I did, it was pretty much like hearing the song virtually for the first time. I, maybe like you, was also left wondering whether that very first short, sharp stab of a chord was my computer freezing right at the beginning of the song. But no, it was most likely the band messing with us into thinking that’s what happened. The band start and stop, cymbals crashing with each stomp of a guitar chord, after which each rest is filled with Serj Tankian creepily whispering “They trying to build a prison” into our ears. The song proper gets underway after the teases, and what follows is a critique of, well, the prison system of the United States. Its high incarceration rate, the war on drugs… two subjects touched upon here via a well-executed mix of strong melody and face-screwing inhale growls and screaming.

What I really appreciate on the track, and throughout the album really, is the back and forth going on between Serj Tankian and guitarist/songwriter Daron Malakian. The verses have the former delivering motor-mouth couplets for the first four measures before handing over to Malakian to deliver the “My crack, my smack, my bitch…” line (not “I smack my bitch”, by the way), alternating again to Tankian who again delivers a straight fact about the prison system of the country and finishing with Malakian growling “They tryna build a prison”, which again transitions into the chorus where Tankian repeats that phrase but powerfully yelling it at the top of his lungs. It’s a dynamic that’s not so much push and pull, but more turns you to face one person with the other waiting for their turn to grab you by the shoulders forcefully to make you face their direction. That never really lets up until the breakdown where the rhythm’s allowed to ride for a bit and I think the moment written for the audience in mind to jump to the beat before the fast pace kicks in again for the final pre-chorus and chorus. What a way to get an album started. I don’t know what it was like for a SOAD fan to wait for those three years between the band’s debut and Toxicity, but with the way ‘Prison Song’ starts the proceedings, it must have felt like they never left.

My iPod #558: System of a Down – Hypnotize

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2005 marked the return of Armenian-American alternative metal band System of a Down; three years after 2002’s Steal This Album! came the double Mezmerize/Hypnotize album, with the first half released in the spring and the second following a few months later.

“Hypnotize” is the title track of the second half, and funnily enough includes both album titles within its lyrics. The majority of songs created in the Mezmerize/Hypnotize sessions featured a bigger presence of songwriter and guitarist Daron Malakian on lead vocals; “Hypnotize” is no exception. He and Serj Tankian alternate every other line before singing in harmony for the song’s innocent chorus. I say innocent because despite the ominous and daunting presence of propaganda by the media, the narrator is only concerned with waiting for his girl to arrive whilst sitting in his car.

The song is actually one of the slowest on the album, though it catches you by surprise when – with just over a minute to go – rumbling tom-toms and a boosted guitar line signify a change in tempo before a Latin-South Eastern European style solo sets up the climactic ending.

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And that is it for the H’s. It has been a grueling two months or so, but it’s finally done. As for when the I’s will start, I can’t say. I’ve got myself a job, and I’m looking forward to starting it next Wednesday. This puts the blog in a very strange position.

This may be the start of a very blank period on here.

If that is the case, keep yourself entertained with the many other posts on here.

This is not the end. Maybe just a hiatus.

We’ll see.

See you guys later.

My iPod #187: System of a Down – Cigaro

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…….. Where could I possibly start? How could I?

This song rocks; its subject matter is humorous as fuck. I don’t understand what is going on.

Still, “Cigaro” is definitely a highlight from “Mezmerize” for me. System of a Down can really produce some crazy material, and this track is up there as being one of the most… ‘special’ pieces that the band has produced.

I got “Mezmerize” for Christmas in 2009 and heard the song when I put the disc into my computer, so there’s not much I can tell you on how it has affected my life or so. It’s just a song that makes me laugh every time I hear it. You need to hear it.