New System.

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New System.

Post by pinback »

This morning was so great I thought I was dreaming.

I'd had a... how we say, "late night", and was awoken far too early, around 5:30 AM, by dogs going nuts. UGHGHhh. Well, I'm groggy but awake, let me roll over and check my phone.

GA and PA had both flipped blue. That was better than three cups of coffee to get me fired up. So I kept scrolling, and the next thing I saw on my Google feed was "System of a Down release two new songs after fifteen years." That had to be a joke. I had to be reading some old or fake clip from-- I mean, I was just yesterday talking with Flack about SOAD completely randomly. What's... can this be happening?

It happened. There's some war or some shit in Armenia again, and that's what it took to get these four dopes into the studio again. With great trepidation, I cranked 'em up on my headphones while Mina was eating her breakfast and watching Paw Patrol. Trepidation because, I mean, it's been fifteen years. I've heard some of Serj's solo stuff over the past decade, and I felt, you know, System had their time, but too much in-fighting and bullshit had wasted so much time, they'd never be able to do their thing again even if they wanted to.

CHILLS. I got chills as the first power chords rained down upon my slightly hungover ears. Not that it's the greatest System you'll ever hear. They wouldn't be standouts on any of their albums. But damn if it doesn't sound like SOAD, and god fucking DAMMIT did I miss it. My first thought was, why couldn't these fuckers have been doing this for the last fifteen years, and my second thought, as I turned my gaze back to the glorious map with GA, NV, PA all shining light blue, was: This is the best day of 2020.

PROTECT THE LAND


This is one of them straight-ahead, kind of repetitive droners that you'd get about once or twice per album where they're definitely just communicating an Important Message, with a few quirky riffs thrown in to round it out. Straight 4/4, hard-hitting power chords. It's all good, but if you're me, you just nod your head to these for five minutes, enjoying the vocal harmonies, air-guitaring the main riff, and you know -- you know -- that something fucked up is definitely going to follow this. Which, God bless 'em...

GENOCIDAL HUMANOIDZ


This seems an intentional call-back to the song "Suite-Pee", which was the first song off the first album. The staccato, psychotic, gritty riff it devolves into quickly echoes it so much that you're pulled back 20 years in an instant, and you have to think that if this is the last song they ever release, Suite-Pee and this are the perfect bookends to the career of one of the most un-categorizable, indescribable hard rock bands that has ever been.

2020 is my jam, bro.
I don't have to say anything. I'm a doctor, too.

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The Happiness Engine
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Re: New System.

Post by The Happiness Engine »

I started and stopped with Table.

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Re: New System.

Post by pinback »

I also enjoy that.
I don't have to say anything. I'm a doctor, too.

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