I’ve come at this backwards – what else is new? – having heard all their albums but this one a number of years ago, and just getting to this now. Oops.
System of a Down is pretty much fully formed on their debut; all the things you would expect from them are here already, even though they hadn’t recorded anything else previous:
- the theatrical vocals mixed with metal screaming,
- the breaks,
- the idiosyncratic parts that wouldn’t normally be found in metal songs,
- etc.
But despite how fully formed this seems, it’s still clearly a debut: the songs (particularly the lyrics) would get significantly better on the next record, the band still sounds, at times, like a conventional metal band rather than SOAD, and, if you are paying a little too much attention to you can hear a pretty heavy Faith No More influence – and a little Tool and possibly just a little Bungle.
But still, this is a unique, idiosyncratic take on metal that manages to both sound mostly like itself and not its influences, and like actual metal. (There is the odd alternative metal band sounds less like a metal band more of the time than it sounds like a metal band, if you know what I mean.)
They got better, but this still pretty good.
8/10
- “Suite-Pee” Serj Tankian Daron Malakian 2:31
- “Know” Tankian Shavo Odadjian, Malakian, Tankian 2:56
- “Sugar” Tankian Odadjian, Malakian 2:33
- “Suggestions” Tankian Malakian 2:44
- “Spiders” Tankian Malakian 3:35
- “DDevil” Tankian Odadjian, Malakian 1:43
- “Soil” Tankian Malakian 3:25
- “War?” Tankian Malakian 2:40
- “Mind” Tankian Odadjian, Malakian, Tankian 6:16
- “Peephole” Tankian Malakian 4:04
- “CUBErt” Tankian, Malakian Malakian 1:49
- “Darts” Tankian Malakian 2:42
- “P.L.U.C.K.” (Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers) Tankian, Malakian Malakian 3:38
- Serj Tankian – vocals, keyboards, samples
- Daron Malakian – guitars, vocals
- Shavo Odadjian – bass, backing vocals
- John Dolmayan – drums
Production
- Produced by Rick Rubin with System of a Down
- Mixed by D. Sardy
- Engineered by Sylvia Massy
- Engineer/Assistant Engineer: Greg Fidelman
- Additional Recording/Finishing Touches: D. Sardy
- Assistant Engineers: Sam Storey, Nick Raskulinecz
- Assistant Mixdown Engineers: James Saez, Greg Gordon, Andy Haller
- Second Assistant Mixdown Engineer: Bryan Davis