However Malakian clearly struggles a little with his vocal delivery in the verses and this takes away a little from the title track. Things improve a great deal with “Hypnotize” the albums lead single, probably the one tune thus far that demonstrates fully the more restrained (as restrained as System can be) theme on the album, a wistful tribute to demonstration and forgotten youth. When someone else is singing your emotions, it can be tough to get that person to feel the same emotion you lived or felt”, which is a fair argument but also does not necessarily means that it serves a particular song well. Speaking to Kerrang magazine in 2005, Malakian explained his reasoning for his increased vocal presence on the new albums “…I thought my voice would suit the songs more. It is obvious also that Malakian’s vocals are higher in the mix than Serji’s maybe in part due to his co producer credit on both albums. Malakian is a fine musician and can be a decent vocalist, but in all honesty his vocal performances on both Mezmerize and in particular Hypnotize sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. The same however cannot be said for the next track “Kill Rock N’ Roll” a perfectly fine song with an insanely catchy chorus but is slightly ruined by Malakian’s at times grating vocal delivery in the opening and continuing verses. It is also one of the few times when both vocalist Serji Tankian’s and Malakian’s dual vocal delivery work effectively and the song is all the better for it. This sense of System of a Down brand of maturity is continued on the next track “Dreaming” which mixes the demented song structure usually associated with the band, but adding a poppy melancholy chorus with driving drums from the always excellent John Dolmayan. Mezmerize also had a slight air of musical maturity about it, but it is clear that the more brooding material was collected on Hypnotize and “Attack” is a memorable opener to the new record. Hypnotize opens with “Attack” which features frenzied guitars and drums, making good use of the tried and true quiet verses/loud chorus with a tinge of Armenian folk music progression and picks up where Mezmerize left off in a satisfying manner while hinting at a slightly more introspective, mature theme which would in fact be evident throughout much of Hypnotize. A lot of people don’t have the time to sit there and listen to an hours worth of music” a sentence which is as sad now as it was back in 2005. Bare in mind, this was a time before smart phone zombies and social media, as Malakian states “people will listen to your record more if there is less to take in. Hypnotize feels like the perfect counterpoint to Mezmerize but is considered by some fans (and by critics at the time) to be the weaker of the two albums.Īfter the touring cycle for Steal this Album was complete, Malakian found that he had accumulated a wealth of material for a new album by the time the band entered The Mansion in June of 2004 to begin the recording process, so much material in fact, that the record could have been a triple album, Malakian speaking to Revolver at the time stated “Oh, it could have been a triple album… I edited out a lot of songs here at my house, before I even brought them to the band” So with so much material the band decided to release two separate records as much for practical reasons and as a counterpoint to the diminishing attention span of audiences in 2005. I felt at the time of its release that Hypnotize was overshadowed by its predecessor, which was a huge commercial and critical success. That being said, both Mezmerize and Hypnotise are fine albums and worthy additions to the System discography. This different vocal approach essentially the band now had two singers, was a bone of contention for some fans and as we will see later, actually had a slight detrimental effect on some of the material on Hypnotize. Hypnotize along with its older brother, would mark a kind of stylistic departure for the band with the most obvious departure being the increased vocal presence of guitarist Daron Malakian who also co produced along with Rubin. Released some six months apart, but with all songs having been written at the same time and recorded at The Mansion with production duties handled by impressive bearded man Rick Rubin, a longtime collaborator of the band. Hypnotize was the follow-up to Mezmerize which was released earlier in the year and both records were considered a double album of sorts, an idea which seems quite quaint in today’s current musical climate. On November 22 2005, System of a Down released their fifth and to date last studio album, Hypnotize.
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