Last year, I had a bit of a System of a Down moment for a while. I was in Peru on holiday and decided to listen to Serj Tankian’s Down with the System memoir in audiobook format, made all the better ’cause he was “reading” it himself. Inspired by his stories of working on the band’s albums amidst his opinions on the political side of things, I listened to Toxicity from front to back for the first time in what must have been years when I got back home a few weeks later. It’s, uh… It’s a damn good album we have right here. In the time I hadn’t listened to Toxicity, I do think I had forgotten why it’s usually considered to be the band’s best album and a straight-up classic in the alternative metal genre. The performances are brutal. I think Tankian and Daron Malakian’s vocal interplay and dynamic was at its peak here, and I guess by association, Steal This Album! Neither here nor there. But more importantly, and I think this matters the most, the songs themselves, the vast majority of them… they’re quite great. And there is no other band who have come close to System since.

When it comes to ‘Toxicity’ the song, well, I’m sure I’ve known that since I was at least nine. Or ten, I’ll say ten. 2004/2005. I was having a problem remembering how I heard the song the first time before writing all this. It’s been in the psyche for so long, I’ve very much forgotten. I think have a scenario, though, and I don’t think I’ve made it up. So here goes. At the time, maybe ‘Chop Suey!’ was the only System song I knew. I was flicking through the music video channels, a usual practice of mine in those times, when I got round to Scuzz and the ending of the video of ‘Toxicity’ was playing, I think Tankian was singing the last line, the zoom out showing the galaxy happened and the song was over. So now I knew another System track, but I missed the display that showed its name, so I was still in the dark. When and where I heard the song next and in full, that’s something I really can’t recall. Either it was on the TV, it might have been on the Internet somewhere. It was an instance where it sort of appeared on a screen when I wasn’t trying to search for it. The song was great, I think the video made it even better – that scene with the crowd rising in the back while Malakian’s head-banging at double-speed, it’s good stuff even today – and that’s been my opinion of the two mediums ever since.

‘Toxicity’ might not be the System track that sums the band up as a whole. I think it’s missing a good Malakian harmony or something that would do the trick. But I honestly think it might/could be a 10/10 in their catalogue. Serj Tankian’s vocals, unmatched. His range is there to witness, from the smooth, almost-whispered delivery in the short verses that intensify in the pre-chorus before he’s full-out blasting his cords for the chorus. He does that melismatic run on the first “sleep” at 1:24. It all culminates in that final “disorder” scream before the outro. Honestly, he’s probably the best thing about the whole track. But all four members are delivering. Shavo Odadjian’s bass guitar kind of pulses in the verses, very subtle but it does the job. The whole track revolves around a riff that he created, so he’s important as anyone on there. Malakian’s riffage speaks for itself. And John Dolmayan’s drums are quite hypnotizing, especially in those verses, and otherwise they’re pummelling and erratic, they work so well for the movement of the music. Only thing I have with it is that I think they got the track so perfect in the studio, there’s no live performance that really matches it, even in the time when it was a new song. I think the one below will do.