System Of A Down: Hypnotize

Released in November 2005, Hypnotize completed the ambitious two-part project System Of A Down began six months earlier with Mezmerize. Rather than feeling like a collection of leftovers, Hypnotize stands firmly on its own, delivering another wildly unpredictable combination of crushing metal, political commentary, Armenian influences, melodic experimentation and the wonderfully strange songwriting that made System Of A Down impossible to imitate.

The album opens with “Attack,” immediately throwing the listener into frantic riffs, rapid-fire drumming and Serj Tankian’s unmistakable vocals. “Dreaming” follows with one of the album’s most ambitious arrangements, constantly moving between aggression, layered harmonies and quieter melodic passages.

The title track “Hypnotize” is one of the album’s defining moments. Built around a deceptively simple guitar melody, the song balances Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian’s contrasting voices beautifully. Their increasingly prominent vocal partnership is central to the entire record, with Malakian taking a considerably larger role than on the band’s earlier albums.

“Kill Rock ‘n Roll” demonstrates the band’s ability to make something simultaneously catchy and completely bizarre, while “Stealing Society,” “Tentative” and “U-Fig” combine political frustration with enormous riffs and unpredictable tempo changes.

One of the album’s heaviest moments arrives with “Holy Mountains.” Dark, powerful and emotionally charged, the song addresses the Armenian genocide and stands among System Of A Down’s most serious compositions. It’s followed by the chaotic “Vicinity of Obscenity,” a perfect example of the band’s ability to jump from genuinely confronting subject matter to complete absurdity without sounding like anyone other than themselves.

The final pairing of “Lonely Day” and “Soldier Side” closes the album on a considerably more sombre note. “Lonely Day” became one of the band’s most recognisable songs, while the full version of “Soldier Side” completes the musical idea introduced at the beginning of Mezmerize, effectively connecting the two albums.

Produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian, Hypnotize captures System Of A Down at their creative peak. Heavy, political, melodic, eccentric and completely unpredictable, it remains an essential companion to Mezmerize and one of the defining alternative metal releases of the 2000s.