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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Mezmerize
by System Of A Down


8.3

based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 307 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

FILM:

Screamers

Official Artist Site

Rick Rubin co-produced this first of two planned 2005 releases for SOAD (with 'Hypnotize' coming in the fall).

LABEL:	Columbia
RELEASE DATE:	17 May 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rock, Metal, Alternative

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Playlouder

'Mesmerize' is a frantic, frenetic brutal assault on the senses. It mashes up the most intense hardcore, the fiercest fire-starting punk rock with ridiculously complex riffing that’s like amphetamine prog.

E! Online

You'll be left wondering why other bands aren't so daring.

Entertainment Weekly

It's heavy and hooky. [20 May 2005, p.73]

All Music Guide

Mezmerize doesn't fail to be unique.

PopMatters

There is no other hard rock band around who can match the audacity, intensity, progressive nature, and accessibility of System of a Down, and with Mezmerize, they've simply topped themselves.

Dot Music

Even if "Hypnotize" is simply more of the same, with SOAD operating at such astonishing creative and emotional heights, it'll still leave every other metal band on the planet scrabbling in the dust.

Q Magazine

Rarely are albums this thrillingly original. [Jul 2005, p.120]

Spin

Tankian remains the sort of agitprop trickster whom partisans on both side so fthe aisle are wise to distrust. [Jul 2005, p.101]

Uncut

Confirms System Of A Down as one of the most innovative bands in modern rock. [Jun 2005, p.110]

Village Voice

Mezmerize should be enough to keep A.D.D.-ers occupied for six months.

New Musical Express

If you want it to be, it's brilliant. It's also a record so ambitious, so angry, and so mad-as-a-goose that there are otherwise intelligent people who will hear it once and straight away deem it an interminable racket. [30 Apr 2005, p.61]

Drowned In Sound

Perhaps they're settling into their identity... Fast and furious often, melodic often, powerful often, diverse always.

ShakingThrough.net

Mezmerize is on par with 2001’s Toxicity as SOAD’s best offering to date.

cokemachineglow

Mezmerize works as a synopsis of the most effective weapons in the band’s arsenal.

Pitchfork

Mezmerize's strongest moments are when the band drops the eccentricities and just rocks out.

Rolling Stone

At its reckless best, which is a lot, Mezmerize is thrilling confrontation, a graphic reflection of a nation tearing itself apart in anger, fear and guilt.

Prefix Magazine

There’s no filler here; there’s barely space for a spare breath. But amidst the bombast, there are a few moments of clarity, and though fleeting, they’re certainly worth the wait.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

While "smarter than most metal" sounds like faint praise, it may be the best way to describe the faintly praiseworthy System Of A Down.

The Guardian

Who'd have thought you could describe a metal band as "intriguing"?

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 307 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Vivi O. gave it a10:
OMG, the words are easy so it's easy to scream along to and YOU WILL want to scream a long to this!

Deanna gave it a10:
Possibly SOAD's best album. It is pretty much perfect. Some people say it is too political. 2 of the songs are Violent Pornography and This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song. Political? Not so much. It really has something fror everyone. If you like fast, in-your-face songs, then B.Y.O.B. might be the song for you. If you like slow, depressing, skip to Lost In Hollywood. And there is everything inbetween.

Kraig B. gave it a10:
In my opinion, SOAD's best album to date. If you gave this album anything less than a 6 regardless of not being a metal fan, you can't say you truely like music.

Mislav gave it a9:
Awesome album. That is the most accurate (and only slightly biased) way to describe it.

Joel C. gave it an8:
Getting a little too political lyric.ally, but that is forgiven as this album is near flawless otherwise.

Sid L. gave it a10:
SOAD's best album to date if you ask me. Their dynamic, creative, and simply awesome metal sound...that's a given. But they manage to put a large percentage of the world's problems into perspective, war. War's a party, they say sarcastically, a party that will just shoo away all the world's evil...when really it creates evil, increasing death and decay, achieving little.

Teodora K. gave it a10:
This album deserves a 10 hands down.

Mezmerize by System Of A Down

Mezmerize
by System Of A Down