Like the Bowl Championship Committee in college football, I chose this year not to hold my championship on New Year’s Day. Instead, two days later, I give you the Hewlett-Packard/Tostitos/ScottBathroomTissue/Intergalactic Planetary/Planetary Intergalactic World Champion…

System of a Down

Mesmerize

Released 17-MAY-2005

#1

Helmet. Rage Against the Machine. System of a Down. In my opinion, these are the three heaviest bands of the last twenty years. Maybe ever. I had an inkling back when System of a Down’s Toxicity came out that the band was something special. Maybe not quite up to the other two bands, but definitely pushing the ceiling. With Mesmerize, I no longer have any doubt. Simply stated, Mesmerize is the best metal album since Helmet’s Meantime and the self-titled Rage Against the Machine and the best overall album of 2005.

Flaming with purpose, unhinged by metal convention, and bursting with astoundingly original and unpredictable music and lyrics, Mesmerize is to 2005 what Green Day’s American Idiot was to 2004: a concept album that truly captures the essence of living in post-September 11th America, for good and for bad. Cock rock? For sure, but with System of a Down the big head does much more thinking than the little head. And in our current social climate, there is something to be said for such an effort.

The songs will certainly not appeal to anyone who isn’t at least moderately interested in metal music. And that is fine. Who they may appeal to will hopefully be exactly who needs to hear the message most.

The openers, Solider Side and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bombs), chronicle the plight of the pre-emptive aggressor with an all-out musical and lyrical assault. Sample lyrics: “Nuke!… why do they always send the poor?… you depend on our protection while you feed us lies from the table cloth… everybody’s going to the party gonna have a real good time… dancin’ in the desert blowin’ up the sunshine.” While this rant certainly could come off as typical liberal grandstanding, what sets it apart from that particular loud-mouthed offer no alternative platform is that later, as more songs are added to the stew, we learn that System of Down excludes no one from the responsibility and guilt of war.

Song 2 is Revenga, which carries on the theme of flag waving, manifest destiny happy assaulting. Musically it is one of the most pop-oriented songs on the disc and lyrically it continues that idea with its message of pure revenge. In a way, the music, but hardly the message, is like Bon Jovi on steroids with its big bombastic choruses geared for maximum power in an arena setting. But combining the music with the message, and together with Soldier Side/BYOB, it offers a concise and important critique of war-mongering conservatism and its first cousin, the culture of fear. This is as big of an f-you to the so-called right wing as is musically possible. And I love it.

Skipping ahead there is Cigaro, which uses the old Bill Clinton technique of wooing the ladies while it positions its protagonist as a big talking, invincible, gung-ho hypocrite. The wolf has finally come through the sheep’s clothing. “My cock is much bigger than yours… my cock can walk right through the door… with a feeling so pure… can’t you see that I love my cock?… can’t you see that you love my cock?… can’t you see that we love my cock?” The metaphor is as sharp and poignant as the end speech from Team America: the world is made up of dicks, pussies, and assholes and it’s the dicks that ruin it with all their ceaseless fucking.” If you haven’t heard that speech, and you should, this is an excellent introduction to the cowardice and insincerity that is capable from both sides of the political spectrum.

Then there is Sad Statue, with its earnest and hard hitting music and precise yet haunting message: “you and me we’ll all go down in history with a sad Statue of Liberty and a generation that didn’t agree.” Did I mention this is 2005’s American Idiot? Oh yes, yes I did. “Justified candy! Brandy for the nerves, eloquence belongs to the conqueror.” He who has the gold makes the rules, and sadly, also writes the history books.

Other exceptional tunes include perhaps my very favorite, Radio/Video, which excels in its reggae interludes and continued assault on media manipulation, and the final coupling Old School Hollywood/Lost in Hollywood, which questions our obsessions with celebrity and materialism and even throws in some synthesizers to boot. As the record concludes on this note, it becomes apparent that there is more to the puzzle than this album has presented. And indeed, this is true, as months later System of a Down released Hypnotize, which fits together both in packaging design and message with Mesmerize. This disc, however, is so good that I have yet to fully submerge into that effort, a sure testament to the power of Mesmerize and all the justification I need to conclude that this is indeed the very best album of 2005.

Indeed, I am mesmerized.

PS – On a more subdued note, if you have not seen Brokeback Mountain I urge you to do so as soon as possible. Unquestionably, it is one of the best movies I have ever seen and is about much more than some of the media is currently giving it credit for. As Roger Ebert observed, “I can imagine someone weeping at this film, identifying with it, because he always wanted to stay in the Marines, or be an artist or a cabinetmaker.” No truer words were ever written.