To split a double album in half and release the discs six months apart smacks of a cynical cash grab (this, ironically, coming from a band who likes to criticize consumer culture), but in the end, it turns out to be a wise move, as focusing on one disc at a time allows listeners to take their time with the music (hearing 23 new System of a Down Songs at once would be almost too overwhelming). With the band claiming this past summer that the second disc, Hypnotize, would be even better, fans of the band couldn’t be blamed for getting just a touch excited at the prospect. Their most accomplished outing to date, Mezmerize lived up to all the heightened expectations, delivering a hair-raising blast of modern metal, fused with punk and Eastern European musical influences, and held together by a maniacal creative spirit, offering the kind of musical variety that highlighted 2001’s Toxicity, but sounding much more cohesive. When we last heard from System of a Down six months ago, they were concluding Disc One of their intended double album on a bitter note, singing of the jaded, phony life in Hollywood, lambasting all those maggots smoking fags out there on Sunset Boulevard.
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