System Of A Down, a Los Angeles-based "nu-metal" band, was formed by
three Armenian-Americans (Serj Tankian on vocals,
Daron Malakian on guitar, Shavo Odadjian on bass).
System Of A Down (American, 1998) introduced a violent approach to
social commentary, reminiscent of the hysteria of the old punk-rock school
but enhanced with metal riffs and assorted sonic detours.
War? and
Suite-Pee bear the stigmata of the Dead Kennedys, plus panzer riffs and demented screams.
The best of the political rants, P.L.U.C.K., is a volcano that erupts
sweet refrains, death groans, psychotic riffs and even ska beats.
However, the band's originality is best displayed in the songs that straddle
the border between genres, both in the ethnic realm,
notably the syncopated middle-eastern metal fusion of Know, but also
the foreign musical accents of Soil,
in the pop realm, such as the bombastic power-ballad Spiders,
and in the grotesque realm, with
Sugar, and Suggestions, two music-hall skits gone terribly awry,
and the emphatic and sarcastic Peephole, that simply takes those two
sick ditties to an even more evil dimension.
The six-minute Mind is the vocalist's tour de force, running the gamut
from whisper to roar and dragging the music into an emotional black hole.
Toxicity (Sony, 2001) is another batch of visceral, vibrant anthems
(Chop Suey, Aerials, Bounce)
with occasional bursts of melodic fits
(Atwa, Toxicity) and even ethnic elements
(Jet Pilot). The overall effect is disorienting, like being hit
by a thousand monsters in a dark room.
Tracks:
Prison Song,
Needles,
Jet Pilot,
X,
Bounce,
Forest,
Atwa,
Science,
Shimmy,
Toxicity,
Psycho,
Aerials.
Steal This Album (American, 2002)
collects unreleased tracks that have been circulating on the Internet.
The songs that rely on agit-prop rage get tedious very quickly: there is
a reason if they were left over from the previous album. Among the others,
the most interesting are the ones that display a sensitive soul (and it's a
first): Ego Brain, "Roulette" and "Streamline", Nuguns.
Mezmerize (Columbia, 2005), the first half of a diptych, is both an extremely complex and an extremely violent experience.
Basically, it is progressive-rock played by a hardcore punk band in a way to resemble the frenzy of a million post-industrial monsters.
Ultimately, it is a rare example of brainy fury.
B.Y.O.B. (for "bring your own bombs"), an angry slam-dancing anthem (alternating with a poppy rigmarole) worthy of classic Dead Kennedys,
and Cigaro, a close second, as well as Sad Statue,
evoke the spirit of the late 1970s;
but the acceleration and deceleration of Revenga and
the post-Guns N' Roses power-ballad Lost In Hollywood
and the folkish breaks of Question
show artful presentation behind the sonic attack.
The sardonic musichall-in-hell skits of
Radio Video
and
This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song,
the brilliant disco spoof of Old School Hollywood
and
the emphatic satire with disco backbeat of Violent Pornography,
prove a perverted sense of how to destabilize the world of heavy-metal.
The second installment, Hypnotize (2005), is inferior, and can't help
sounding like a bunch of leftovers, although even leftovers are worth listening
to when they are leftovers from good albums (see Attack and
Lonely Day).
|
(Translation by/ Tradotto da Marco Trevisan)
System Of A Down e' una band "nu-metal" di Los Angeles composta da tre
Armeni-Americani (Serj Tankian alla voce, Daron Malakian alla chitarra,
Shavo Odadjian al basso).
I rantoli politici di P.L.U.C.K. (enfatizzati da un tempo da musica
disco) e di War? sono gli aspetti piu' rilevanti di System
Of A Down (American, 1998).
Tracce: Suite-Pee, Know, Sugar,
Suggestions, Spiders, Ddevil, Soil,
Mind, Peephole, CUBErt,
Toxicity (Sony, 2001) e' un altro lotto di vibranti inni
viscerali (Chop Suey, Aerials, Bounce) con
sprazzi occasionali di melodia (Atwa, Toxicity) e persino
elementi etnici (Jet Pilot). L'effetto complessivo e'
disorientante, tanto quanto essere colpiti da un migliaio di mostri in una
stanza buia.
Tracce: Prison Song, Needles, Jet Pilot,
X, Bounce, Forest, Atwa,
Science, Shimmy, Toxicity, Psycho,
Aerials.
Steal This Album (American, 2002) raccoglie tracce
precedentemente non rilasciate ma finite in circolazione su Internet. Le
canzoni che si basano su furia politica diventano presto noiose: c'e' un
motivo per cui non furono incluse nel precedente album. Tra le altre, le
piu' interessanti sono quelle che mostrano un'animo sensibile: Ego
Brain, Roulette and Streamline, Nuguns.
Mezmerize (Columbia, 2005) e' un'esperienza
contemporaneamente estremamente complessa e violenta.
Sostanzialmente si tratta di progressive-rock eseguito da un gruppo hardcore
punk in un modo che assomiglia alla frenesia di un milione di mostri
post-industriali. Si tratta di un raro esempio di furia cervellotica.
B.Y.O.B. (sta per "bring your own bombs" cioe' "porta le tue
bombe"),
un inno pieno d'ira degno dei classici Dead Kennedys, e Cigaro, un
secondo vicino, evocano lo spirito dei tardi anni 70; ma l'accelerazione e
la decelerazione di Revenga mostra l'abile realizzazione dietro
all'attacco sonoro. Una power-ballad post-Guns'n'Roses come Lost In
Hollywood o la sardonica imitazione This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like
I'm On This Song per la serie "audiorio nell'inferno", provano una
sensibilita' perversa nel modo di destabilizzare il mondo dell'heavy metal.
|