System Of A Down - Toxicity review
| Band: | System Of A Down |
| Album: | Toxicity |
| Style: | Alternative metal |
| Release date: | September 2001 |
01. Prison Song
02. Needles
03. Deer Dance
04. Jet Pilot
05. X
06. Chop Suey!
07. Bounce
08. Forest
09. ATWA
10. Science
11. Shimmy
12. Toxicity
13. Psycho
14. Aerials
System of a Down created a huge hype for the nu-metal scene back in 2001 with an album called "Toxicity"; to this day the mentioned album is still a best seller in many stores and we can hear many people talking about the greatness of this album. I bought this album a while ago, I heard it a lot of times I liked it the first few listens, but after a while it bored me big time and then I even sold it to a weird kid with an emoish hairdo.
This is not a bad album at first sight, the first listens you'll find good guitar structures, catchy songwriting and even a lot of funny lyrics which, for example, talk about a guy who has a pogo stick and every single person wants to play with it but can't because there is just one pogo stick at the party with so many friends ("Bounce"). So as you might know, this kind of things are cool the first 3 times you read it, but when you hear it the fifth time or the sixth time it becomes really boring and idiotic.
The album fails in continuity, and this is the epitome of good albums you know? Most albums MUST have good schemes for you to hear it 50 times without a problem, SOAD was not able to achieve this task. Then the riffs are not powerful at all, the backing vocals are just hideous and really fucking annoying (f.e. "Needles") the drumming is monotonous, there's no strength whatsoever in the whole album and it becomes a "nerd"/idiotic/ridiculous release.
This album is not as good as many people think, there are good moments with schizoid riffs and crazy paces ("Psycho") but that's it, most features "good" decompose badly after a week or so. Not even "Chop Suey!", which was one of the most praised tracks in nu-metal history, manages to create a constant interest for the audience, just imagine the rest of the songs.
So this is an average nu-metal release, certainly I've heard better albums and also I've heard worse ones. Is it really that good? Not at all, it's totally disposable; I just keep thinking "why in the fuck didn't I download it first". This is exactly the kind of album which makes metal-heads hate nu-metal, it gets a lot of hype and everyone talks about how great it is, but in the end it's just a plain, average, middling and nerdy release, nothing more nothing less.
Comments
Comments: 72
Visited by: 497 users
| BurbotsRevenge Foetal Butchery Posts: 1602  |
this is SOAD's best album. it is a brilliant album with great songs like chop suey, toxicity, aerials and needles. the songs usually have a melodic verse then change to a heavy chorus. brilliant combination. 
---- Dark death metal from Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/GolgothanRemains
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262  |
argh...Aerials is the most annoying song I've ever heard in my life! 
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| The Alchemist Metalchemist Posts: 1589  |
I haven't heard all the songs of the album, but the ones I like the ones I have: "Chop Suey", "Aerials", and "Toxicity" specially for the atmosphere they create
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| Bitch Boy Posts: 1353  |
I haven't heard the whole album, only 5 or 6 tracks, and Aerials is the only worth listening...
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| Baz Anderson staff Posts: 13237  |
this reminds me of my school days i would rather forget my school days. hahaha
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| AnGina-- Dark Phoenix Posts: 3555  |
so untr00. Toxicity is a great album and it gets only better with more listens. I layed Toxicity to res some years ago and listened it again about half of year ago and now SOAD are one of my faves.
---- You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was a man. But it was nothing to me but blinding.
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| AnGina-- Dark Phoenix Posts: 3555 |
And besides, it's not nu metal. gosh.
---- You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was a man. But it was nothing to me but blinding.
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| LethargyMan Posts: 336  |
Damn... I haven't listened to this album in years. Good fucking stuff.
---- Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem.
By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.
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| spirit_inblack harshhead Posts: 715  |
I listened to this album a few times, then got bored of it and havent listened to it since. A waste of $10. The only songs I can stand are Prison Song, Chop Suey, Toxicity, Shimmy, Pyscho, and Aerials, and they are not even that great. The best track is probably Prison Song.
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| Talvi Posts: 825  |
Yeah, this album is a bit monotonous. Their debut is their best album, and the best if you only wanna one of them.
---- My account on other musical pages: http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/ http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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| barry Account deleted |
barry
Account deleted
master: i must agree. This is SOAD's the best album. Very good songs (especially Chop Suey, Deer Dance, Nedles, Aerials, Toxicity etc..) 
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
This album is great, a cornerstone of the Nu Metal genre.
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| 4look4rd The Sasquatch Posts: 834  |
Thanks for the great review, finally some one that has a bit of musical taste, and see that "funny" doesnt mean "good," their music might be somewhat creative, but please what the fuck are they smoking to writte those shitty lyrics. And where the hell did does guys learn how to play/sing. Well this album pisses me off, and I cant believe how many people like it! Nu metal is already shitty enough, but when you add this kind of lyrics, you just cant be taken serious... And if you bought this album, please next time just buy a gun and kill yourself you'll be doing a huge favor to humanity. God, how can this kind of crap sell so much?
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504  |
I'm still not sure if I would call this nümetal... it's close, yeah, but I don't know. I don't think you can really shoot them for their weird lyrics... they have songs that are pure "what the fuck", songs to protest war and discrimation etc, and songs that combine the two. The guys know how to play - listen to the self-titled first album, my favourite from them - and they're good at creating fairly heavy sections by juxtaposing them with weird, not-so-heavy bits. Just listen to something like Mind, P.L.U.C.K. or Know. It sells because it's catchy, it was on MTV, and it was better than nearly everything else on MTV at the time. Come on, Toxicity is a great slightly-but-not-too-punkish modern hard rock song for people under 30. More importantly, their stuff is highly fun (Suite-Pee, Johnny, Psycho) and good to jump and yell along to. And no one can say they're not original. What I've said here should probably be in the past tense... they lost me with the two-albums-in-one-year material, don't ask me why.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays
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| sn0 Posts: 25  |
Umm, can someone tell me why SOAD's band profile remaines inactive? Doesn't it meet all the necessary requirements to activate it? To me it seems it could be done with only a few clicks, or am I terribly wrong?
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| Lucas Mr. Noise elite Posts: 13427  |
Written by Guest on 30.07.2007 at 20:39 'Cause they're metal. 
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Infurnace Posts: 948  |
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| sn0 Posts: 25 |
I mean, if they're not metal then what are they? Certainly not pop. To my opinion there are bands with active profiles here that are much harder to describe as metal. So the question remaines - why inactive. Did someone just forgot to click a button or smthn?
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| Lucas Mr. Noise elite Posts: 13427 |
Written by sn0 on 01.08.2007 at 15:27 Hey man. Let me help you out here. We have a pretty sweet FAQ, which says the following about the subject: 'If you see an inactive or invisible band profile, you can submit all the informtaion needed (all band members past and present, full discography including any demos, etc. and all other essential informtiaon) and contact Abougrej or any other staff member - they will check to see if everything is present and correct and if it is the band can possibly become active!' So you know what to do. 
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what? "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| sn0 Posts: 25 |
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| Bitch Boy Posts: 1353 |
I only like "Aerials" and "Chop Suey!" from this album. The rest is really boring, with every play I liked the album less than before.
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| Deadsoulman elite Posts: 8004  |
Written by 4look4rd on 26.06.2007 at 04:32 I agree with you about the lyrics, but that above is such a dumb comment. Anyway, I don't exactly agree with Herz's review This is actually my favourite SOAD album, it's far more focused than their debut (which had moments of sheer genius but went all over the place far too often) and the songwriting is better IMO. I also like that the backing vocals of Shavo come in sometimes only (I don't like the fact that he's overtaking a lot of the vocal duties nowadays). I still listen to it from time to time, which proves its lasting vallue, at least for me.
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| tulkas el parcero Posts: 4742  |
i actually agree with this review. the first couple of times you're like, hey, this is kinda cool, but it slowly starts to get boring and wears out. now, i bearly listen to it and still prefer their self-titled album a lot more!
---- love is like a jar of shit with a strawberry on top
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
I had Forest playing the other night, I always forget what a great song that is. Written by Deadsoulman on 02.08.2007 at 10:56 Do you mean Daron? Shavo's the bassist... if you mean Daron, I completely agree.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays
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| Deadsoulman elite Posts: 8004 |
Oooops, Daron, of course I meant Daron  Thanks for pointing that out!
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| Darkside Momo Retired elite Posts: 9087  |
Written by BurbotsRevenge on 05.10.2006 at 04:02 I agree with you about the best songs of the album. However, it's not their best imo. And I personnaly classify them as alternative metal, not nü !
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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