CoC : System of a Down - System of a Down : Review

System of a Down - _System of a Down_
(Columbia-American, 1998)
by: Jody Webb (8 out of 10)

Most of my friends in the metal industry would choose this for the debut act of 1998, but I'd reserve that enthusiasm for Ultraspank. I am willing to grant System a #2 in my book, though, primarily due to the original writing, non-formulaic structures, and effective vocals. Overall, I suppose one could describe this as thrash, but the tracks on this disc hit most of the tempos seen in modern music, from a crawl to a high-speed chug, although there is no blast beat here. A few cuts are written in a verse/pre-chorus/chorus arrangement, but, in general, the band does some innovative things with different parts. They manage to touch a bit of folk and polka too, but not for more than a moment. Serge, the vocalist, likes to change up from a spoken word to a throaty death voice to breaking into song, and he does this in most of the right places. The net effect is twelve quality tracks. I can put this disc on a random spin and enjoy it the whole way through. My only qualms here are the political agenda that serves as lyrical content, because I just wanna rock, but the music makes up in a big way. This debut shows more quality tracks than Ultraspank, but lacks the killer singles.

(article published 1/10/1998)

ALBUMS
11/24/2005	J Smit	6	System of a Down - Hypnotize
5/23/2005	J Smit	8	System of a Down - Mezmerize
10/19/2001	M Noll	9.5	System of a Down - Toxicity

GIGS
5/19/1999	A Wasylyk	Fear Factory / System of a Down / Static X	Nile's No Show, Not Nice
1/16/1999	M Noll	Slayer / Sepultura / System of a Down	Facing the Slayers, Down in the Grave
7/8/1998	A Bromley	Slayer / Clutch / System of a Down	Slayed, Once Again