Independent review

While Serj Tankian supports the velvet revolution in Armenia, let's recall the past. As much as I convince myself, I do not share the opinion of those millions who bought this record, raised it to the peak of Billboard and made SOAD a legend. I loved 4 excellent things from it, so I am not unfaithful to them – Needles, ATWA, Toxicity and Aerials. Maybe Deer dance too. Yes, I do not argue that there is Chop suey!, Bounce, Forest, maybe Shimmy, Psycho. They are understandable and correct, but they do not hook me. I in principle incline to the fact that Malakian's main achievements are Mezmerize of 2005 and his project with Dolmayan Scars on a Broadway. If considering by albums. Of course, it is perfectly understandable why and for what reason everything happened as it happened, but this does not cancel the overestimation of longplays, including this one. SOAD too much exploit the mixing of genres from nu-metal and thrash to Armenian folk motifs, often to the detriment of the composition itself. If one removes the tinsel, then a quite simple metal-brawl and no innovation will remain. The stunning melodism of Toxicity does not sprout from most things, like on Mezmerise. Explosive delivery, sparkling vocals – these cannot be taken away, but still in the end more than half of the album is just a beautiful wrapper for hits. I'll re-listen to my foursome one more time and am unlikely to return to the album in its entirety soon.

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