System of a Down – Hypnotize

Now See If You Can Beat It

Hot damn indeed. System of a Down dangles a pocket watch determined to spellbind with their exhilarating new batch of songs Hypnotize. Officially now the second half of an album began earlier this year with the group’s phenomenal release Mezmerize, Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan bring relevancy to heavy music long overdue.After the face shredding big-metal palm-muting of the opener “Attack” and its yelping chorus “Attack, attack, attack with pesticide / We attack” Daron and Serj boggle the mind with a stunning one-two punch vocal delivery on “Dreaming.” With alluring nervousness, aggression and concern the duo power through “You, you went beyond / and you lost it all / Why did you go there?” harmonizing as effectively as Staley and Cantrell during Alice in Chains’ prime. Similarly, this dizzying joy continues in the pulse-pounding cymbal crashes and tremolo picking of “Stealing Society” featuring a dueling vocal counterpoint not to be missed.

Tracks cover a stupefying level of subject matter including social apathy (“Hypnotize”), drug-addled prostitution (“She’s Like Heroin”) and you know, terracotta pie (“Vicinity of Obscenity”). These sharp turns help keep a relentless pace. One moment SOAD’s expounding the spiritual significance of an Armenian mountain range on “Holy Mountains” and on another Serj chirps “Eat all the grass that you want” on “Kill Rock ‘N Roll.”

The album ends with two Malakian penned tunes “Lonely Day” and “Soldier Side.” The former a mournful lament on a malaise-filled rotten day and the latter the bookend reprising Mezmerize’s opener. “Soldier Side” questions military deployment. That’s where the whole piece succeeds: by questioning. No gaudy preaching, just ruminations on a confusing modern world.