Mezmerize

Mezmerize is the fourth studio album by the Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on May 17, 2005, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Upon its release, the album received acclaim from critics. The album sold over 450,000 copies in its first week, and immediately topped the Billboard 200.

In 2025, Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian of Loudwire included the album in her list of "the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time", ranking it sixteenth.

Background

Mezmerize and Hypnotize are considered two parts of a double album. Mezmerize features guitarist Daron Malakian sharing most of the vocal work with vocalist Serj Tankian, splitting the vocals at least halfway on many of the tracks.

Malakian wrote "Old School Hollywood" after playing in a celebrity baseball game for charity. The song mentions Tony Danza and Frankie Avalon, who also played in the game.

In "Radio/Video", there are lines referring to two people named Danny and Lisa. Malakian commented on the song to Revolver magazine:

"My neighbors were Danny and Lisa, who I sing about in "Radio/Video" with System — they had that record [Paul Stanley's 1978 solo album] and it ended up at my apartment. I would listen to that record all the time. I first saw Kiss at a relative's house. They were older teenagers and had Kiss all over the walls in their bedrooms. I remember being so afraid of Kiss, and it just stuck. Kiss started the metal attitude, metal theatrics and metal fashion — they contributed to that a lot. I was listening to that album in my car with my girlfriend a few months back. When I put it on, I said: 'This album is extremely special to me.'"

In the same interview, Daron Malakian talked about the "non-stop disco" lines in "Violent Pornography":

"I've always been a huge fan of disco music through my life. We have a song called 'Violent Pornography' in System of a Down, and the lyrics are: 'It's a non-stop disco/Betcha didn't know/Betcha didn't know …' That line means, 'I love disco, betcha didn't know.' That has nothing to do with the rest of the song, by the way."

The Japanese version of the album contains alternate mixes of "Soldier Side (Intro)" and "Lost in Hollywood", the former with additional strings and the latter containing slightly different background vocals, while "Cigaro" as a bonus track on the single for "B.Y.O.B." contains a 4-stick hit intro not present in the retail version. The album artwork is done by Vartan Malakian, the father of Daron Malakian.

Reception

Mezmerize was acclaimed by critics, scoring 85 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album debuted at number one in at least 12 countries, including the US Billboard 200 on the chart dating June 4, 2005, with 453,000 copies, and has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The hit single "B.Y.O.B." won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Track listing

All music written by Daron Malakian, except "Question!", written by Serj Tankian and Malakian.

Note

• Early releases of the album incorrectly credit Tankian as a co-lyricist on "Lost in Hollywood", this mistake was fixed on later copies.

Personnel

Personnel taken from Mezmerize CD booklet, except where noted.

System of a Down

• Serj Tankian – vocals, keyboards, string arrangements, acoustic guitar on "Question!" (uncredited)
• Daron Malakian – vocals, guitars; bass, keyboards (uncredited)
• Shavo Odadjian – bass
• John Dolmayan – drums, percussion

Charts

Certifications