Don't you ever get stuck in the sky!

The first time I heard "Prison Song" on a sampler, sometime back in 2001, I was like "what the fuck is this?". Not long after I discovered the video for "Chop Suey" on music television and from this point on I was pretty much sold on SYSTEM OF A DOWN. Both of these songs are from their second album "Toxicity". I bought that record, fell in love with it and within a few weeks hunted down their selftitled debut album... the one, that turns 25 years old today...

Getting so much into them was kinda strange to me, as I was knee-deep into HC, Post-Hardcore and Emo back then. I had no real history in Metal and loathed most of the so called "Nu Metal" besides the DEFTONES. SOAD were deemed Nu Metal but while they may or may not have taken a few notches from the likes of KORN or SEPULTURA, they didn't fit in that category. They didn't fit really into all of Metal and are to this very day one of the rare bands that are not fully comparable to another band. As whacky as it might sound, but I've always considered them one of the more "Punk" bands in Metal, due to their strong political stance and also due to some elements in their music - best presented on said debut album, released in 1998.

What I like about their "selftitled" record is that it has its own flavour as oppossed to all their other records. At a point in my life it was my favourite record of theirs, but that was the time when I was getting sick of "Toxicity". In hindsight, "Toxicity" is the better record to me. The "selftitled" isn't as fleshed out, but then again, that makes it exciting. Where "Toxicity" is about the drama and the epic-ness some times, the "selftitled" is rough and fucked up. It's more about the fast, thrashy parts, about getting crazy and wreckin' everything up. You get moments that are akin to the melodic sites of "Toxicity", mostly in "Peephole" or the famous "Spiders", who would make a perfect fit to their second album. But mostly the "selftitled" is more spazzed out and manic, with strange interplays, experimental vocals, harmonies and guitar work and a bewildering mood covering it up. Just listen to a track like "Mind", one of their odd ones. The phase that sums this record up for me is the opening-three-string of "Suit-Pee"-"Know"-"Sugar". Three two-and-a-half-minute-long tracks, here to kick you good. And don't you forget about "War?" and that sick ass riff!

What's kinda fascinating about SYSTEM OF A DOWN is their evolution. They were getting better by the year, up to 2001, where they released "Toxicity". The strange sites to "selftitled" came absolutely natural and you can witness this if you dive into their series of demos released between 1995 and 1998. Star producer Rick Rubin trimmed their weird-ness down for the album, without killing it completely. Speaking about the demos, some parts of this record really came a long way and already were on one of their demos. This record or the success story of SOAD was no fluke or pure luck. It was the result of hard work and getting better and more defined with every recording.

The "selftitled" wasn't the end of their evolution, though it was an important part of their career, displaying their quirky, agressive and imaginative nature, while hinting at the brilliance of "Toxicity". With that being said, check out this awesome video for "Spiders". I love it!