Toxicity

About This Project

System of a Down exploded onto the scene with their second album titled Toxicity in 2001. The title track here encompasses everything I love about this band: it’s unusual, manic, and beautiful all at the same time. At first, I’m not sure I even liked them. Actually, I know I didn’t. After a few listens (because their music was everywhere at the time) and seeing them live at Ozzfest, I totally turned around. I particularly love the last 1o seconds of this song—it’s a superb close, ending on a high note, almost if it were another song.

A few wiki notes:

Don Kaye of Blabbermouth.net gave the album ten out of ten, one of only 21 albums to achieve a perfect rating from the site. Keith Harris of Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, “Both manic and schizoid, Tankian veers easily from sing-rap rhythm to Korn-ish hysterics to demonic baritone growl to doomily ruminative… the music insists on forward motion without trapping itself in a thrashy lock-step rut”.

Q gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and wrote that the album “matches Slipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringe rock of the ’60s”. Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B– and wrote: “Strange and engaging… It all adds up to bizarro type of metal that has a warped majesty and strength”. Joe Gross of Spin wrote that the band “have an undeniable nerd-prog charm”.

The album is listed in Blender’s 500 CDs You Must Own.  MusicRadar held a public poll and Toxicity was ranked as 28th greatest heavy metal album in the list of The 50 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. The album is ranked at number 44 in Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the Decade for 2000s.

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Conversion, software version 7.0
Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub

Eating seeds is a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city

Now, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder, disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence, sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder

More wood for the fires, loud neighbours
Flashlight reveries caught in the headlights of a truck

Eating seeds is a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city

Now, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder, disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence, sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder

Now, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder, disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence, sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder

When I became the sun
I shone life into the man’s hearts
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man’s hearts