November 26, 2002 - Steal This Album!

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and just a little over a year since "Toxicity", System Of A Down released their third album "Steal This Album!" on November 26, 2002. System wrote mostly shorter songs on this album, but there's a whopping sixteen tracks and it's still the same style of System we've come to love. Let's dive in!

The album begins with "Chic 'N' Stu" and it's a classic joke song to start us off as Serj Tankian yells loudly about pizza, including listing toppings. The lyrics are very odd indeed, but Serj delivers them with his usual animosity and Daron Malakian plays some upbeat and cool guitar to carry things. There's a nice heavy Breakdown midway through and Serj delivers some more classic weird vocals that words couldn't possibly describe. A pretty fitting way to kick things off! Up next is "Innervision" and Shavo Odadjian plays some sweet heavy bass in the background while Daron leads the way with some more fast and catchy guitar. Serj sings a soft but smooth verse and shouts the name of the song nicely in the chorus. He spits out a nice faster verse after the first couple rounds and once again System pack a lot of cool stuff into a two-plus minute song, including a pretty sweet drum break by John Dolmayan. Track 3 is "Bubbles" and Daron once again drives things with some pretty cool guitar. Serj sings a nice fast verse overtop and he syncs up nicely with the music for a nice stop-and-start chorus. This pretty much sums up this one; not their best but still a solid tune. The next track is "Boom!" and Serj just speaks the verses on this one, and each one is about the horrible things humanity will/have done with explosives. His lyrics are excellent and the heavy music in the chorus is pretty good too. Track 5 is "Nüguns" and Daron plays some really fast guitar on this one that sounds pretty sweet the whole way through. Serj holds lots of long, high notes and things sound pretty cool, but it's Malakian's awesome guitar that makes this song so good. Up next is "A.D.D. (American Dream Denial)" and words don't do proper justice when I say it's another typical System main riff: some great guitar by Daron, some excellent heavy bass by Shavo and some solid drums by John. Serj starts the verse light, but nicely ramps into the chorus with some great yelling. These guys just don't know how to write bad music, it's another pretty sweet tune! Track 7 is "Mr. Jack" and Shavo plays a slow, quiet bass riff to start us off until Daron comes thundering in with one hell of a heavy chorus riff. The verse is quiet and creepy with Serj doing some nice whisper singing and it makes the return to the heavy chorus hit even harder. After a couple rounds things quiet right down before once again slamming into an even heavier new riff! Serj's yells in this closing riff sound awesome and they couldn't possibly end it any heavier, spectacular stuff! The next track is "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" and Dolmayan plays a catchy drum beat to start us off, then Daron and Shavo come slamming in with another heavy and pretty sweet main riff. Serj's verse is not only sung really fast, but it's all tongue twisters as well and it's pretty amazing how he spits out all these lyrics coherently. The chorus is mostly just Serj shouting out the name of the song, but it's overtop the heavy chorus riff and things still sound pretty sweet. After a couple rounds Serj nicely delivers a new verse that is very strange and very System, then they return to the chorus to nicely finish things off. Track 9 is only 46 seconds long, but it's titled "36". They pack a TON of heavy awesomeness into those 46 seconds: sweet drums by Dolmayan, super heavy bass by Shavo, some quirky guitar by Daron and some spectacularly heavy screams by Serj that are so low! Such an amazing metal package! Up next is "Pictures" and it's got a repetitive but decently heavy main riff with some pretty catchy drums by Dolmayan. They don't stray far from the main drag on this little two minute song but it's got a really catchy beat and it's hard not to toe tap along to! Track 11 is "Highway Song" and they jump right into a cool chorus riff that is both heavy and catchy and then settle things down for a lighter but interesting verse. Serj sings a soft and smooth verse to match the mood and Daron plays some pretty cool guitar as they ramp back up to the heavy chorus. He even extends this into a short solo midway through and Serj does some great high, creepy vocals as well. A pretty solid tune! The next track is "Fuck The System" and Daron plays a really cool, difficult to describe guitar riff that is all over the place! Serj's vocals are not really words in the "verse", just some crazy and insane noises that you'll only hear on a System of a Down record and it's just so perfectly Serj! The chorus has Serj shouting "war! Fuck the system!" overtop some more pretty heavy and cool music and words don't do justice to the classic System oddness on this one! Track 13 is "Ego Brain" and Daron leads the way with some acoustic guitar that is pretty fast and cool while Serj adds some high, trippy keyboards to the mix for a very unique and abnormal sound for System. Serj sings a smooth verse overtop this intriguing main riff and Daron echoes him nicely as well. This somehow moves smoothly into a more typical System chorus that is nixes and heavy, yet still contains elements of the unique verse. This is definitely not one of their more typical songs, but they so a pretty good job on it! Up next is "Thetawaves" and we're back to being fast-paced, upbeat and solidly heavy in another pretty cool main riff. Serj sings quickly to match the pace and he shows off his range with some nice high and low points. The music is very tight and perfectly in tune with one another as they stop and start in perfect unison and everything sounds great. Daron delivers a pretty sweet little solo after a couple rounds and this is just another hidden gem and well above average song! Track 15 is "Roulette" and there's no drums or bass on this whole song, just Daron playing a catchy acoustic guitar riff and Serj singing a soft but really epic verse. Daron syncs up with Serj in the chorus as they both sing and hold some nice simultaneous long notes. Acoustic System with no heavy rhythm section is unlike anything we've heard by them, but ince again they do an excellent job of nailing this experimentation. Daron delivers an acoustic guitar solo that sounds really cool as well and this was a very special and unique song! The final song on the album is "Streamline" and Shavo kicks us off with a pretty cool bass riff that John and Daron nicely build off of until Daron switches to a slower, epic guitar riff for the verse. Serj holds some nice long notes overtop and they slam very nicely back into the heavy chorus where Serj holds some more nice long notes! After another round Daron plays a pretty cool guitar solo before they predictably but solidly bring this song and album to a close.

That is the end of "Steal This Album!" and I thought it was another pretty awesome album by System of a Down! They just keep doing what their great at on this album, with a little bit more experimenting, but they did a great job every time they stepped outside their comfort zone. The fact that I think it's easily their worst album yet is not a knock on this very good album of it's own, only a nod to how amazing "Toxicity" and their self-titled debut are! I can't wait to hear where these guys go next! This also happens to be my last album of the year, and so begins the year-end wrap-up! 35 albums is my most prolific year so far, and that means there's a good amount of good music that doesn't even make the final list, and that's with this being my first year with a top 20! There's just so much good music coming out!

Top 20 Albums of the Year

1. Alexisonfire by Alexisonfire
2. Alive or Just Breathing by Killswitch Engage
3. In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
4. Deliverance by Opeth
5. Nothing by Meshuggah
6. Audioslave by Audioslave
7. Steal This Album! by System of a Down
8. ...And Life is Very Long by The Acacia Strain
9. Untitled by Five Pointe O
10. Babylon by Skindred
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater
12. Remission by Mastodon
13. 30 Seconds to Mars by 30 Seconds to Mars
14. The Illusion of Safety by Thrice
15. The End of All Things to Come by Mudvayne
16. MoonBabies by Planet X
17. Storaged Melodies by System of a Down
18. Stone Sour by Stone Sour
19. Les Nouveaux Mondes by Nemo
20. Strange Beautiful Music by Joe Satriani

This whole top 20 for 2002 is chock full of great albums, but the top 10 especially is quite excellent! I can't wait to see what 2003 has in store!