In 1998 a shock wave went through metal land. The genre had rarely sounded as harsh and relentless as System Of A Down. The razor-sharp staccato guitar riffs were not very original, but the energy that the band radiated was unprecedented. The record was a great success and gave the Americans the support act for Slayer and a performance at the world famous Ozzfest festival. This finally sealed the
… success. Now there is the long-awaited successor Toxicity. While the sound has largely remained the same, the songs have become even more extreme. System Of A Down excels at writing chaotic songs at first hearing, in which pounding guitars are suddenly alternated with emotional, almost ballad-like, passages. As one of the few bands in the nu-metal era, System Of A Down retains a strange, but clearly distinctive look and the band does not define its musical lines based on commercial considerations. Nevertheless, success also seems to be guaranteed in advance for Toxicity. (RWK)more