System Of A Down: Every Album Ranked Worst To Best
4. System Of A Down
Looking at what their career blossomed into going forward, System of a Down is virtually unrecognizable in the years before the 2000's. Considering they just came off of collaborating with rap heavyweights on the soundtrack to Chef Aid from South Park, there was a lot more riding on this for the band originally known as Soil. Whereas the last half of System's career saw them branching out, their self titled is by far the heaviest offering of their career.
Although most of the record is just a decent form of nu metal of the time, there's a lot more eccentricities on here than you probably remember. For starters, the weird grooves that John Dolmayan throws into the mix here are integral in System's sound going forward, giving a propulsive jump that was much more interesting than your standard headbanging groove.
You can see the germs of what System were going to become on here too, with songs like Spiders having a lot more tuneful and mellow moments than something like Suite Pee or Ddevil. Even the main single Sugar is still awesome, having a much zanier feel than what they would deliver just 3 years later on songs like Chop Suey. When most bands just put their best foot forward, this is the equivalent of taking a hacksaw to your eardrums.