System Of A Down – Mezmerize (2005)

October 20, 2024

Another album I got the day of release (well, the day after in this case; my friend Ross skipped school to catch the train into town to buy the album, and we gathered round to see it when he arrived back for the afternoon’s science lesson).

Mezmerize, at the time, felt significantly different to me that the SOAD that had came before. The guitars seem to have a jangly thinness to them; the bass and drums being far more prominent in the mix and the guitars not… well, not taking a back seat, but just sounding a bit thin, as I said.

One thing you can say about this record though, is that it is stacked from start to finish with super fucking great songs. I remember hearing “Cigaro” as an advance to this album and just being blown away by how silly it was yet how heavy it was. Mezmerize is, one of those rare albums where every single song is amazing and still holds up today. The closing track “Lost In Hollywood” is still in my regular “chuck something on in the background” playlists today.