System Of A Down
Toxicity (Columbia/American)
by Scott Hefflon
System of a Down are the “brainy, political” nü metal band. They’re “quirky, jerky” like Dead Kennedys were, and when they shout “hey!” at the end of each line, you get that it’s more Russian folk dancing than “duh, like Oi!’n’shit, punk!” Maybe that’s overstating, but there’s a reason why these guys are top of the nü metal shitheap. While they work in newscast snippets and make proclamations and “drive points home” like no one has (thank God) since Rage Against the Machine launched a thousand shitty rap metal bands, they work in more and more and more stuff than you can keep up with (’60s hippy harmonies here, ’70s rock tip-o’-the-shaggy-head there, Middle Eastern yip and finger-cymbal tinkering here’n’there, hell, I can’t rattle the stuff off fast enough!). Oh, and they beat the shit outta you.
Kids, don’t try this at home. (The driving thing or the band thing, cuz SOAD are better than 99% of you’ll ever be, ok?)
(www.systemofadown.com)