4 Out Of 5 Stars
"Toxicity," System of a Down's second album, remains their best effort. They mashed together thrash metal and melodic hard rock (yes, I said that seriously) to the point that Serj Tankian, could jump from his harsh shouting to the tuneful but complex "Aerials." Guitarist Daron Malakian even picks up an acoustic for "Chop Suey!" And like brothers in arms Rage Against The Machine, System of a Down weren't afraid of taking on political rocking, as in the CD's opening "Prison Song." At the same time, there's a weird sense of humor, like in "Bounce," where the bans seems to be taking a whiz at their own brand of metal, or using a flute in "Science."It helped that a producer like Rick Rubin could come in and make order out of chaos, much like he did with Slayer's best albums. He's one of the few producers who can take bands that make music as jagged as SOAD create and stitch it into a complete and coherent album. When this kind of sound was all the rage in 2001 (think Korn, Rage and Deftones), "Toxicity" was the album that stood above the crowd in terms of sheer originality and stylistic verve.
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