''Mezmerize'' is the fourth studio album by Armenian-American heavy metal band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

, released on May 17, 2005, by American Recordings and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Upon its release, the album received acclaim from critics. At a length of just over 36 minutes, ''Mezmerize'' is the band's shortest studio album.

Background

Despite the time difference between releases, ''Mezmerize'' and '' Hypnotize'' were recorded within the same time frame. The album features guitarist

Daron Malakian Daron Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and second vocalist of metal band System of a Down, and as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwrit ...

sharing most of the vocal work with vocalist

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

, splitting the vocals at least halfway on many of the tracks. In 2018, Malakian and Tankian both independently revealed that at the time of recording the two albums, Tankian was almost out of the band. According to Tankian, this was because of differences in creative input and financial revenue split. Malakian wrote "Old School Hollywood" after playing in a celebrity baseball game for charity. The song mentions

Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983) and '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award a ...

and

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...

, who also played in the game. In "Radio/Video", there are lines referring to two people named Danny and Lisa. Malakian commented on the song to ''

Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

'' magazine: In the same interview, Daron Malakian talked about "Violent Pornography"'s "non-stop disco" lines: The Japanese version of the album contains alternate mixes of "Soldier Side (Intro)" and "Lost in Hollywood", the former with additional strings and the latter containing slightly different background vocals, while the leaked

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

version of "Cigaro" contains a 4-stick hit intro not present in the retail version. The album artwork is done by

Vartan Malakian Vartan Malakian (Armenian: Վարդան Մալաքյան, born February 14, 1947) is an Iraqi-Armenian-American artist and painter. He is the father of Daron Malakian, the guitarist and co-founder of System of a Down and Scars on Broadway.

, the father of Daron Malakian.

Reception

''Mezmerize'' was acclaimed by critics, scoring 85 at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album debuted at number one in at least 12 countries, including the US ''Billboard'' 200, with 453,000 copies, and has since been certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. It was chosen as one of

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. The hit single "B.Y.O.B." won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Track listing

All lyrics written by

and

, except where noted. All music written by Malakian, except "Question!", written by Malakian and Tankian.

Personnel

System of a Down *

– vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar on "Question!" (uncredited) *

– vocals, guitars, bass (uncredited)Alan Di Perna https://www.guitarworld.com/features/daron-malakian-21st-century-schizoid-man (September 29, 2008)Fabrizio Pedrotti https://fabriziopedrotti.com/2019/07/18/shavo-odadjian-system-of-a-down-nunca-va-a-morir/ (July 18, 2019) *

Shavo Odadjian Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian ( hy, Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band System of a Down. He also plays bass in a trap group called North Kingsl ...

– bass *

John Dolmayan John Dolmayan (; born July 15, 1972) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician, best known as the drummer of System of a Down. He is also the drummer for the band Indicator and former drummer for Scars on Broadway. Dolmayan ranked number 33 ...

– drums, percussion Vocals * "Soldier Side" - Intro: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian (both main) * "B.Y.O.B.": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Revenga": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Cigaro": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Radio/Video": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on this Song": Tankian * "Violent Pornography": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Question!": Tankian (main), Malakian (backing vocals) * "Sad Statue": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Old School Hollywood": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Lost in Hollywood": Malakian (main) and Tankian (second voice) Production *

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

– production * Andy Wallace – mixing * David Schiffman – engineering *

Jason Lader Jason Lader is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer from New York. He is also known for playing bass guitar, keyboards, piano, guitar, and as a programmer. He was a member of the band Furslide, and has since worked with Howard B ...

– editing * Dana Neilsen – editing * Phillip Broussard – engineering assistance * John O'Mahony –

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

engineering * Steve Sisco – mixing assistance * Joe Peluso – mixing assistance Additional personnel *

Marc Mann Marc Mann is an American keyboardist, guitarist, programmer, arranger and conductor. He has a Master's Degree in Music from UCLA. Mann is known for his work with Oingo Boingo, Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra. Mann is credited as perf ...

– string arrangements * Vartan Malakian – artwork * Brandy Flower – graphic design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Albums produced by Daron Malakian Albums produced by Rick Rubin American Recordings (record label) albums Columbia Records albums System of a Down albums Albums recorded at The Mansion (recording studio)