But there is no denying when a song just sounds good, and this one is just that. If you can’t get past the lyrics or how accessible the song sounds, then skip this one. It goes from being a moody, depressing cliche song, to a larger than life chorus/sound. At the same time, it has an incredible sound. The boisterous chorus/guitar riffs – this certainly isn’t the best SOAD has done. It would be easy to pick apart the simplicity of the lyrics, and really, this song does play out like a stadium anthem. One of the shortest tracks on the album, the song sees the lead vocals go to guitarist Daron Malakian. Thematically, the song is kind of not up to par with the other tracks, but it’s a great song nonetheless.Ġ7. The chorus has a swing to it, and it’s a great back-and-forth song that shows the band just letting loose. The guitar riffs have a nice chug and the drumming is fantastic. What makes the song interesting is the music. Lyrically, the song is a bit silly, as it’s just a mishmash of different ways of killing someone. A somber Serj asks, “Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?” As you can tell by the lyrics so far, this album deals heavily with the hopelessness and the feelings of being forsaken when living through war and genocide. Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian create a beautiful harmony, which might be one of the most beautiful things they have ever written. The song starts off in a usual SOAD fashion – chugging guitar riffs and in-your-face singing – but the song soon slows down around 1:48, and it just takes on a new life. The fact that humans continue you to do these things, even when the end result is always the same. It’s an endless barrage of guitar riffs and a chorus that is screamed, “We attack, All the years of propaganda, We shall attack!” Thematically, the song asks the question – what is logical about war? The killing of children, and destruction of villages. Originally the opening track to Hypnotize, the song lives up to its title. The song was written about the Armenian genocide in Turkey, and the band produces a somber hopelessness to the song. From the eerie way Serj sings “Can you feel their haunting presence…Someone’s blank stare deemed it warfare,” to the beautiful harmonizing, this is easily one of Serj’s best vocal performances to date. Holy Mountains ( Hypnotize, track eight)Ī contender for best song on the album, this track is haunting. “B.Y.O.B.” succeeds in balancing fast-paced rock with a slow-paced chorus/breakdown that is really catchy.Ġ3. The song has a real sense of urgency as you are barraged by relentless guitar riffs and singing from Serj. Lyrically, it talks about the rich elite sending middle and lower class people to fight their wars. “B.Y.O.B.” (or Bring Your Own Bombs) is one of the band’s most political songs to date. “Why do they always send the poor!” are the first lyrics we hear on this song. “Welcome, to the soldier side, where there’s no one here but me…” The intro version is shorter than the latter, but it does a good job setting the mood for the album. SOAD did a great job holding the two albums together by the “Soldier Side” songs. Soldier Side (intro) ( Mezmerize, track one) If that sounds too preachy, the album is much better musically for having been cut down, and it’s a less jarring listening experience.Ġ1. Gone is the song about comparing one’s cock size, or the song that reminds us that “everyone sucks, everyone fucks.” What you now have is an album that focuses on war and the injustices/atrocities that are caused by man. With all that said, we found that there is more than enough content to make a great album out of both discs – if only you cut away the immature/tongue-in-cheek songs. But it seems that whenever the band is being lyrically immature, the music also takes after it. That’s not to say that their immature songs are musically awful, because most of it is not. When they focus on making more mature music, they can be quite brilliant. This album showed that the biggest thing holding the band back from being great is the band themselves. At the same time, the experience can be quite jarring one moment you are listening to a song about the protests at Tiananmen Square followed by a song about being beaten off with someone’s feet. For some, this kind of gives the band their unique style. It’s always been a trademark of SOAD to have really out-there music, and immature lyric content has always been a staple. However, the albums also showed a deep contrast between their serious and immature side. The double disc album showed the band exploring maturer themes.

They even made it so the packaging could be combined. Whether a clever marketing ploy or a band truly hard at work, both albums served as companion pieces.

In 2005, System Of A Down released Mezmerize and Hypnotize six months apart from each other.

Soad hypnotize song track