New System of a Down double album.

[Epyo]

From blabbermouth.net

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has confirmed that Disc One ("Mezmerize") from the band's 2-disc set, "Mezmerize/Hypnotize", will be released on May 17, 2005. Disc Two ("Hypnotize") is expected to see a late fall release.

The first single from "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" will be the track "B.Y.O.B." [Bring Your Own Bombs] which will hit the airwaves this month. The song, which questions a president's involvement in the business of war, balances a near-R&B groove — "Everybody's going to the party have a real good time / Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine" — with the song's recurring demand, "Why don't presidents fight the war?/Why do they always send the poor?/Why do they always send the poor?"

SYSTEM OF A DOWN will relaunch their website — systemofadown.com — this evening. The revamped site will offer intriguing glimpses of the artwork for "Mezmerize/Hypnotize", much of which was designed and painted by Vartan Malakian, guitarist/producer Daron Malakian's father.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN wrote some thirty tracks for "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" and recorded them at producer Rick Rubin's Laurel Canyon studio between June and November of 2004. The album was produced by Rubin and Daron Malakian and mixed by Andy Wallace, who also mixed "Toxicity" and "Steal This Album!" The new songs are more complex, more progressive, more unorthodox, and more experimental than ever, while retaining the idiosyncratic, ironic and schizophrenic qualities that make SYSTEM OF A DOWN so distinctive. Topics include relationships, the evils of television and corporate mind control, the mysteries of life and death, and a surreal experience at a celebrity baseball game. Some of the song titles are "Radio Video", "Old School Hollywood", "Cigaro", "Lost in Hollywood", "Question", "Vicinity of Obscenity" and "Revenga". The decision to release the two discs six months apart was made simply to give fans time to get into and really live with the music from Disc One before plunging into Disc Two.

"Mezmerize /Hypnotize" will be the follow-up to the nearly six-million-selling "Toxicity" which was released in September 2001 and debuted in the Number One position on the Billboard/Soundscan charts. "Toxicity" generated four Top 10 singles, including the #1 smash "Aerials", and was named "2001's Best Album of the Year" by Spin magazine. Entertainment Weekly named "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" the #1 (of 25) Most Anticipated Album.

I'm a big soad fan so this is great news. Appearantly they weren't planning on making a 2 disc set but recorded 40 songs that were all good flew with each other. Instead of throwing away half of em they split up all the good ones into the two albums.

ho ray.

[Sharessa]

Heh, I stopped listening to them after Toxicity. Have they made anything since?

[Epyo]

In 2002 they put all the songs they made for toxicity but weren't good enough on an album called Steal This Album. But some of the songs were actually pretty awesome, and the album itself holds up pretty well.

[Uncle 80]

Toxicity is one of the few "nü-metal" albums I still listen to and like, and I'll ********ly get at least one of the two new albums as well. SOAD just gets better and better (well, aside from "Steal this album", but as the title suggests, that was just a little something for the die-hard fans anyway).

"certainly" ... huh.. where did those *s come from?? (scratches head)

[GooberMan]

Epyo said:

In 2002 they put all the songs they made for toxicity but weren't good enough on an album called Steal This Album.

Uh, no. They put a collection of B-Sides and unreleased tracks on an album called Steal This Album! because you could get the tracks online anyway, and the band wanted their fans to have a legitimate way to own those tracks (or a legitimate way to get more money, one or the other). The tracks spanned their entire career, not just the Toxicity sessions.

Their manager or publicist or someone or other (can't remember, lost the news link) put Cigaro up on this site] in January if anyone is interested in in checking it out.

[Sharessa]

I don't think System of a Down really qualifies as Numetal.

[gatewatcher]

System of a Down is not numetal. I'm getting sick of all you forum assholes calling any music that has a bunch of guitars and a double bass pedal numetal. Please shut up.

I like System of a Down, they usually make quality LPs.

[destx]

I would probably classify SOAD as punk, They sure as hell ain't nu 'metal' or any other kind of metal. Ontopic, good for SOAD. Though I don't listen to them - they seem to be one of the very few commercial bands that deserves their success.

nü-metal

NUMETAL IS NOT WORTHY OF THE UMLAUT, FOOL!!!!!!!111twelve

[alexz721]

I personally don't care what the classification of any band is, as long as I like the music.

That being said, System of a Down used to be my favorite band. They're still among my favorites, and I am looking forward to the new album.

[sirjuddington]

Their first album is awesome. Toxicity was eh, and 'steal this album' I can't stand. Especially that stupid fucking 'boom' song.

Hopefully they get back on track with this new one, although I doubt it :/

[Lüt]

destx said:

NUMETAL IS NOT WORTHY OF THE UMLAUT, FOOL!!!!!!!111twe[/b]lve

For once I will agree with you.

[Uncle 80]

gatewatcher said:

System of a Down is not numetal. I'm getting sick of all you forum assholes calling any music that has a bunch of guitars and a double bass pedal numetal. Please shut up.

I like System of a Down, they usually make quality LPs.

Ok, I'll start calling SOAD death metal or symphonic black metal instead. That seems much more appropriate, you forum asshole. Please shut up.

[Bucket]

destx said:

I would probably classify SOAD as punk, They sure as hell ain't nu 'metal' or any other kind of metal. Ontopic, good for SOAD. Though I don't listen to them - they seem to be one of the very few commercial bands that deserves their success.

How so? What did they do that no one else has done?

[Uncle 80]

SOAD managed to create something of their own. That's not something you can say about bands like Linkin Park, Disturbed, Papa Roach, or generally 90% of the bands that tend to get placed within the nu-metal category by people in general, wheter SOAD is nu or not.

[Gokuma]

All Nü Metal sucks ass. System of a Down kicks ass.

[destx]

Uncle 80 said:

Ok, I'll start calling SOAD death metal or symphonic black metal instead.

Please don't.

[gatewatcher]

Uncle 80 said:

Ok, I'll start calling SOAD death metal or symphonic black metal instead. That seems much more appropriate, you forum asshole. Please shut up.

You can do that if you like, it only proves how ignorant you are (but if you don't, just speaking is enough).

[Slayne]

First album (self titled) = rocked
Toxicity = didn't rock as much, but still rocked
Steal This Album = rocked in some places
This double album = hopefully rocks everywhere

[Sharessa]

Uncle 80 said:

Ok, I'll start calling SOAD death metal or symphonic black metal instead. That seems much more appropriate, you forum asshole. Please shut up.

Uh...how about we just call them metal. Cause that's what they are, simple as that.

P.S. Death/Black metal are somethign else entirely.

[fraggle]

SOAD is just another gangsta rap band, the same as all the others. Boring.

[destx]

Danarchy said:

P.S. Death/Black metal are somethign else entirely.

Brilliant fucking deduction, Sherlock.

[LorD BaZTArD]

Yeah, utter crap :P With the exception of Opeth....but they are a different genre entirely...heh :P

This new SOAD should be interesting actually, they do do some good stuff, even if they do get overplayed on the radio, They have a twisted sense of humour, which I find amusing.

[Uncle 80]

Danarchy said:

Uh...how about we just call them metal. Cause that's what they are, simple as that.

P.S. Death/Black metal are somethign else entirely.

Ok, then I'll call them neo-classical prog rock. When I first labeled SOAD "nu-metal" earlier in the thread, i put the word "nu-metal" in quotes, which signifies that the tag is not meant to be taken literaly. Then I proceeded to label SOAD black- and/or death metal as a commentary to Gaywatcher's unusually bright, informative and well-written remark. Now I've changed by mind, and from this day on be it known to all that SOAD are masters of neo-classical progressive rock.

Thank you.

[Stealthy Ivan]

Heh....
System of a who?????

[EarthQuake]

Typical Scenario Involving Music

Person 1: omg, something happened with so-and-so-band today
Person 2: wtf numetal is gay
Person 3: its not numetal its deathmetal
Person 4: its not metal u dumbfucks
Person 1: fku all bitches
Person 3: lol listen to real music, like dimmu borgir
Person 2: no fukc u, numetal is gay

[Uncle 80]

EarthQuake said:

Typical Scenario Involving Music

Person 1: omg, something happened with so-and-so-band today
Person 2: wtf numetal is gay
Person 3: its not numetal its deathmetal
Person 4: its not metal u dumbfucks
Person 1: fku all bitches
Person 3: lol listen to real music, like dimmu borgir
Person 2: no fukc u, numetal is gay

Heh heh, good one.
Now I've gotta go find a slipknot-debate somewhere...

[Sharessa]

destx said:

Brilliant fucking deduction, Sherlock.

Agh! You stupid fucking assclown, I was on your side for once. Fucksake, shut the Hell up.

Uncle 80 said:

Ok, then I'll call them neo-classical prog rock. When I first labeled SOAD "nu-metal" earlier in the thread, i put the word "nu-metal" in quotes, which signifies that the tag is not meant to be taken literaly. Then I proceeded to label SOAD black- and/or death metal as a commentary to Gaywatcher's unusually bright, informative and well-written remark. Now I've changed by mind, and from this day on be it known to all that SOAD are masters of neo-classical progressive rock.

Thank you.

The point is that they are NOWHERE near nu-metal at all. Next time you start throwing labels around, put some fucking thought into it. I bet you think Rammstein and NIN are industrial. Just shu up, you fucking nonce.

[Scabbed Angel]

I read an article somewhere calling them the "New Nine Inch Nails" do to their sound that is very unlike everything else at the time. Kind of cool, don't know if I agree though.

[Uncle 80]

Danarchy said:

So what is nu-metal then? Is it Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park or any other band that limits their imagination to putting rap vocals and scratching over dull, standardized pop-chords with distortion? System Of A Down emerged from the same scene as most of the other "original" nu-metal bands did, the LA post-death metal scene. Korn, Coal Chamber, Human Waste Project, Static-X, Fear Factory and SOAD among countless others have all been branded nu-metal at one time or another. So which one of them is the actual nu-metal band? None of them sound the same, allthough they all seem to belong in the same category. How could this happen?

Well, lets take a look at the early nineties, shall we?
A brief moment after 80's "hair metal" and the seattle grunge scene weren't hip anymore, MTV "discovered" death metal.
Suddenly bands like Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, and a few of the other pioneering death metal bands were added to the MTV playlist.
As their popularity grew, more and more bands started popping up, and
fans of "true" death metal around the world tore their hair off in frustration, because "their" music had been commercialized; People all over the world started forming bands, and like every other genre that becomes "in", most of the bands did not add anything new to the style, they were merely doing the exact same things as their idols, probably thinking that they "could play good music and make money off it". The exact same thing that has happened so many times before, like punk in the late 70's, glam metal in the late 80's, grunge in the early-to-mid nineties, and recently, black metal.

Anyways, after a little while, all these of these Death Metal bands started sounding the same, and people and the media gradually lost interest and started looking around for something else. Enter LAPD, or "KoRn", as they were known after their first few demos and a vocalist change.
What they did was almost unheard of at the time, the only band that had done something remotely similar were Anthrax, with the "I'm the man" EP from '87, and their '91 team-effort with Public Enemy covering the aforementioned's "Bring The Noise".
Korn did many of the same things that Anthrax had done, but did not rely solely on using rap as the vocal style. They did, however, write songs with riffs that made obvious nods to early '90s death metal and late '80s thrash, while they could not be placed correctly within any of those two categories. In the early days, KoRn stated bands like Morbid Angel, Metallica and Carcass as inspiration, but there are obviously other influences in there as well, like Cypress Hill.
Nevertheless, Korn was not death, nor thrash, nor hip-hop, so a new tag had to be invented. Enter the term "new", or "Nu" metal.

With Korn's popularity growing, the media became aware of the scene that had spawned them; a rather large group of bands that had much in common, but one thing in particular; They sounded like an "extension" of death/thrash metal, meaning, they were all obviously inspired by death metal, but they had made an effort to create something new by adding elements that made the music into something of its own. For those that have heard the Fear Factory discography, these features are more than obvious on the debut album, "Soul of a new machine". One of the "new" metal albums that lies closes to traditional death metal.

So all of these bands that bore similarities with death metal, yet managed to create a style of their own were all thrown into the same category, and as had happened to death metal, the style became very popular, and many new bands were formed. And like their DM counterparts, they did not add anything substatial to the new-metal expression. As time goes, the new bands starts sounding more and more watered out, as they all rely on the same songwriting formula;
Song structures as easy to comprehend as possible, with a minimum of riffs to make a song "catchy", and the usual nu-metal tricks like roaring and singing combined, rapping, scratching, etc...

In other words, this means that modern bands like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, TRAPT (gross) and countless others that I simply cannot be bothered to mention are not "nu-metal". The original nu-metal bands were the ones that shamelessly merged hard metal with other forms of music to create new expressions. KoRn, System Of A Down, Deftones, Fear Factory, Machine Head and many others were the pioneers of this "style", those bands that actually did something else than following the leaders and playing standard, pop-structured death metal. And as mentioned earlier in this rant, the exact same thing has happened to a lot of bands and genres.

Nowadays people think bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth are black metal. Well, dig up a few old albums from Bathory, Samael, Aura Noir, Tormentor or any other well known "old-school BM" band, and spot the difference. The same people that beleive populistic metal bands like Dimmu to be black metal, are the very same that suggest Linkin Park are nu-metal. No, they are both contemporary, or "pop", despite that none of them bear any resemlence to more popular "pop" artists like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera.
Green Day, punk? Creed, grunge? Don't make me laugh.

If you know the most well-used clichés within the various styles of music out there, you can quickly tell wether or not it is "the real deal". As far as I'm concerned, both KoRn and SOAD fit the "original intent" of the nu-metal categorization. Korn did their thing, and system played with influences from Armenian folk music and punk rock among others. Yet they have more in common than either band has with any death metal band, punk band, or otherwise.
In short, what people nowadays call nu-metal is nothing more than watered-out, unoriginal pop bands, designed to have a few hits and then be forgotten. (Like the 80's LA band Bang Tango, the "next big thing" after G'N'R. Anyone remember them? HEH).

The conclusion is that SOAD has a lot to to with nu-metal, in fact they were among the pioneers, as opposed to the bulk of today's bands that are nothing more than pale reflections of what nu-metal once was.

Now, try writing a post yourself and explain to me what industrial is, if NIN does not fit into that category, or shut up.

[destx]

This man speaks much truth.