Sometimes the demos have things that are edited out of the final version. God Dethroned's 'Ravenous' started out with a sample on the demo of someone saying "Is that what you fucking call god?" from some apocalypse movie from the 1990's, which the final did not have. To it's detriment, as that sample was an awesome intro to the song, which now seems plain without it.

Or, someone with too much time on their hands did something dorky and posted it on the internet.

Since this Out of Exile thread has metomorphosed into the Mezmerize thread (which is fine, because one can never have too many System of a Down threads) I have an interesting note to make about the first song, the Soldier Side intro.

I've downloaded a version of it from teh intarnetz that has... synthasizer violas on it. They don't do very much, they mainly just very basically follow the top singing line. Yet, on the actual CD, there are no strings to be found.

My question is thus: if SOAD didn't actually put that on there... who the fuck would spend that much time on editing the song in such a basically pointless way? ...And how did they do it, because I could really use that kind of knowledge actually.

OoE also has some lyrics which really SPEAK to me, man:

[i]When I first came to this island
that I called by own name
I was happy in this fortress,
in my exile I remained
But the hours grew so empty
and the ocean sent her waves
In the figure of a woman
and she pulled me out to sea[/i]

Nice! And don't forget:

[i]I like (blah blah blah), cuz it doesn't remind me of anything.

Things that I've loved, things that I've lost
Things I've held sacred, then I dropped,
I won't lie no more, you can bet
I don't wanna learn what I'll need...
...to forget.
[/i]

That's TOTALLY me, man! It's like he KNOWS me! And READS my WEBSITES!

[quote="Lysander"]reminded of how many orders of magnitude Mezmerize is better than Out of Exile[/quote]

Well, they're different styles of music. OoE is just straight-ahead, "old-timey" rock 'n' roll.

[quote]Surge Tankeon[/quote]

How can you spell things for Lysander on here? Separate the letters by a space?

His name is S E R J T A N K I A N

And if you're interested, you can go to axisofjustice.org and listen to him and Tom Morello do their radio show together! Check out the archives.

See, I got Out of Exile the same time I got Mezmerize.

Good idea, right?

WRONG!

Now I can't listen to Out of Exile.

Because every single time I make an attempt to start, I get reminded of how many orders of magnitude Mezmerize is better than Out of Exile, and will be inevitably drawn back to listen to Mezmerize, for the fifth time that day. I've never listened to a single Audioslave song yet. I hate you, Darren Molokean, for being so good that you spoil all music for all time. PS: Surge Tankeon is the best motherfucking name, ever.

MEZMERIZE REVIEW, PART III
-------------------------------

Yeah, funny thing. This came out over a month ago, right? What did I give it? B? Well, that's ridiculous.

It has barely left my car's CD player since I got it. And my car's CD player hold exactly 1 CD at a time. Which means I've listened to the album now about 982 times so far. On long trips, multiple times over. And it never, never gets old.

Toxicity never gets old either, so the question becomes, which is the greatest rock album of all time, Toxicity or this.

Well, Toxicity has no bad songs at all, which makes it tough to beat. However, Mezmerize has higher peaks. The intro -> BYOB combo is nearly unbeatable, and I still think that Violent Pornography is the best song ever.

Also, as has been beat into the ground already, Mez is only "half an album".

But whatever, I CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO IT. Every other album I own seems to be lacking something next to it.

I give it A+++ WILL PLAY AGAIN NEXT TIME I GET IN MY CAR>

The DJ on the radio was: incorrect.

The DJ on the radio said it came out a week ago today.

Well, some of the early reviews are coming in, and most of them seem to be of a theme... "Kinda mellower and more listener-friendly than the first album".

Hmm. I am... [i]concerned[/i] about this.

Today, at 11:30, I will go to "lunch", head directly to Best Buy, pop it in, and then drive around for the next hour listening.

Then I will pick up a salad roll or something else to eat.

Then I will come back here and REVIEWZ THE ALBUMZ!!!!

[quote="JC BBS"]11:56 PM[/quote]

[b][i]FIX THE CLOCK[/i][/b]

IT'S MAY 24TH!!! THE COUNTDOWN IS OVER!!!

Except for the countdown for the stores to open.

So, this hour's countdown number is:

[b][i][size=200]10[/size][/i][/b]

Best Motherfucking OF, baby! Outstanding!

1

Whoops! Slipped up a little here. Let's get back on track!

Yesterday's countdown number was:

[b][i][size=200]2[/size][/i][/b]

Today's countdown number is:

[b][i][size=200]1![/size][/i][/b]

Can you feel the tension mounting? I CAN!

[quote="Vitriola"]I'd hit it.[/quote]

YEAH! =)

[quote]Actually, I wasn't that big a fan of the song.[/quote]

Oh. =(

[quote]Anybody hear SOAD doing karaoke/covers of other songs?[/quote]

I saw Serj and Tommy Morello doing "Get Up, Stand Up" on the Axis of Justice DVD. That was really bad!

(They also did "Where the Streets Have No Name" which was also horrible!)

I'd hit it.

Actually, I wasn't that big a fan of the song. It had it's moments, but 'choking chicks and sodomy' wasn't it, too croony.

Anybody hear SOAD doing karaoke/covers of other songs? So far, I've only heard 'Smoke On the Water' and 'Footloose', but I almost had to pull off the road I was laughing so hard. Good shit.

BONUS OFFER!

Violent Pornography is now available free of charge at:

http://sonowthen.net/crap/vp.mp3

Enjoy!

MESMERIZE REVIEW PART 2:

First of all, I am now to understand that the album is actually called "MEZMERIZE". Which, okay, extra Z, that's 10 points, plus 50 bonus for going out, and triple word score... SOAD wins at The Scrabble!

Now, where were we...

7. Violent Pornography: The greatest song of all time!! Instantly vaults the album to legendary status. Essentially the X-rated metal version of the Homestar Runner theme song, this is a tremendous, rocking tune. You'll be merrily humming the chorus ("choking chicks and soooodomyyy...") all the way home. A+++++ WOULD LISTEN TO AGAIN

8. Question!: The obvious "centerpiece" of the album, features more wacky time signatures than the bastard offspring of Rush and Frank Zappa. Pretty good, but all those 5/4s and 7/8s take a little of the [i]oomph[/i] out of it.

9. Sad Statue: SHREDDER!! We spend the first and last minutes of the song seeing how fast we can play the guitar, and in the middle reiterate our stance that WAR IS BAD AND STUFF. Worthwhile.

10. Old School Hollywood: The strangest of all SOAD songs. Mix in the Cylon voice from the original Battlestar Galactica, add a few more sound effects, and then add in total the vibe from that song which goes "Let's get a party goin' let's get a party goin' let's get a party goin' we'll party hard PARTY HARD!" (perhaps "Let's Get a Party Going?") and add just a smidge of really excellent harmonization, and you've got one brilliant, hard rockin' tune. Extra bonus points for Tony Danza references.

11. Lost in Hollywood: Let's [i]bring it down[/i] a little, as the album ends on a quieter, more poetic ballad number, strummed and sung by Daron. You know, not really my thing, but you can feel the tension building for the upcoming sequel album.

The strength of the last half brings my current grade up to a solid B, although the fact that I can't hear a goddamn thing anymore must mean I liked it even more than that, as I played it 2.5 times straight through on my car stereo at full volume, and now I have a headache.

The Greatest Year in Music History has officially... [b]BEGUN![/b]

(Which reminds me, today's Out of Exile countdown number is:)

[b][i][size=200]3[/size][/i][/b]

[quote="Vitriola"]How is the System of a Down?[/quote]

MESMERIZE REVIEW, PART 1!!!

I'm writing part 1 now, after having listened to the first six songs. Overall, I would call it "an album by SOAD", which means that, if you like SOAD, you will already have bought it, and if you don't, you never will. So far this album is unlikely to change anybody's mind on either side of that fence.

Songs:

1. Soldier Side: A few seconds of melodic guitarwork, leading into:

2. BYOB. Now THIS is how you start an album! Huge, riff-tastic number in which SOAD seems to be channeling old Metallica, while infusing it with their characteristic musical sense of humor (the "let's all have a party tonight" part, or whatever he says). Very very good. RAWK! \m/\m/\m/

3. Revenga: Kinda nondescript, with a few interesting chord changes.

4: Cigaro: Starts with the lyric "My cock is much bigger than yours". Fast, but nonmemorable.

5. Radio/Video: Goofy song, harking back to the original album, and also borrowing heavily from the song "BOOM" off Steal This Album. Like, almost copying it exactly. Features SOAD's first foray into reggae. I liked it, but didn't love it.

6. This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song: Simple song with a few power chords and a bunch of yelping about not eating the fish. I don't know which fish they're talking about, or why we're not supposed to eat it, but whatever.

So, there you have it. So far, I'd give it a C+. The sound is, for the most part, markedly different from the first three albums -- gone is the low-end muddiness, as everything comes out sounding crisper and a little more treble-ended. Also, Daron does more singing, which would generally be regarded as a bad thing, but has fortunately figured out how to actually hit a note some time between the last album and this one. Singing lessons?

Thematically, it bandied back and forth between "WAR IS BAD" and "TELEVISION IS BAD". So, you know, no revelations there.

Anyway, there's PART 1. Like SOAD is doing with these two short albums (Mesmerize/Hypnotize - The KILL BILL of hard rock), I will charge you full price again for the second half of the review, even though I scream about the evils of capitalism.

Hmm.

[quote="Vitriola"]How is the System of a Down?[/quote]
I downloaded it a few weeks ago off Usenet - pretty darn good.