Review of the Album "Hypnotize" by Armenian American Heavy Metal Band System of a Down

Hypnotize is the 2005 studio album by Armenian American heavy metal band System of a Down and it is also a double album that was released along with Mezmerize. This means that in a 7 year period, the band released 5 studio albums and brought awareness to some of the most important and pressing social issues of our time.

The first song called Attack is very heavy for this band’s standards and it brings attention to issues such as the effects of environmental pollution and pesticides that have unfortunately gone into the food supply creating tons of toxicity and disease. The album has the dual vocal performances by Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian. The song called Kill Rock N’ Roll is a song mocking the lifestyle of the rock star in spite of the fact that System of Down has achieved such high popularity. The song Hypnotize brings awareness of the power of propaganda and TV advertising. It is this advertising that convinces us to buy certain products because in the mind of advertisers we won’t be complete if we do not have these products. Stealing Society is a heavy song that describes the dysfunctional lifestyle of a movie star that is looking for that next drug that will get him high. Dreaming is also an important song because it brings attention and awareness to the issue of poor people around the world being exploited and dying because they are neglected. However, Dreaming has these weird heavy sounds but the melodic vocals kick in and this may improve the song somewhat.

The song Tentative is a song about what happens during wartime when the bombs are dropping down. Lyrically, the song is similar to songs such as BYOB and Boom on the album called Steal This Album. The people that are in danger are wondering whether someone will save them from the chaos that is going on around them. They do not know where they will go as this is all happening. The song called U-Fig is a song that talks about opposing those that claim to be patriotic but they are not. Vicinity of Obscenity is a silly song with vocals that are speeded up to sound more aggressive than they should be. She’s Like Heroin is a song describing a woman that has a very bad heroin addict that really needs help to get over her problem. The last song called Soldier Side is a longer version of the song Soldier Side Intro on the Mezmerize album.

Then comes my favorite song on the album called Lonely Day. The song is about someone that is going through a day so painful that he feels that such lonely days should not exist. I find myself singing along to this song sometimes. The song also brings awareness of a person that is without the love of his life because she is separated from him.

The weak points for this album are the songs Vicinity of Obscenity and Holy Mountains. Even though the acoustic guitars may be good, the song is an average at best song about trying to save ourselves from the forces of demons that may be in the midst of our surroundings. Overall, Hypnotizeis a good album but it is not as good as the band’s first two releases.

Or is this really the case? Listening to Hypnotize late in 2022 I have a fresher perspective on the album. One of its strengths is the melodic dual vocals. This means that Serj and Daron provide vocals on this album but Daron’s vocals are of the “sillier” more entertaining variety.