In Australia there is a tinned-seafood company called John West which has the slogan: "It's the fish John West reject that make John West the best." (Think about it for a minute.) Listening to this album of sixteen out-takes and rarities from System of a Down's brief two album career so far, it is clear to me that it is the songs that SOAD reject that make them the best rock band around today.
The title gives the finger to those "fans" who have reportedly uploaded pirated tracks of these previously unreleased songs to the Internet, and is matched by the postmodern CD packaging. No cover sleeve, just a mock-up of a recordable CD. Clearly, the rock'n'roll image is not of great concern to SOAD. They have a deeper purpose to fulfill with their music.
As was heard with greatest clarity on Toxicity, SOAD's songs pulsate with social conscience and unashamed spirituality. Chugging along like a well-oiled monster truck, track two "Innervision" is a metal ode to the examined life; and as is also apparent, a conversation with the Author of Life. Try these lyrics on for size:
I have a home / longing to roam
I have to find you / I have to meet you
Sanctum your face / slowing your pace
I need your guidance / I need to seek my innervision
My pupils dance / Lost in a trance
Your sacred silence / Losing all violence
Stars in their place / mirror your face
I need to find you / I need to seek my innervision
There's only one true path in life
The road that leads to all leads to one
There's only one true path in life
The road that leads to our innervision
Most of the album, however, is reserved for unabashed rage aimed at the injustice of oppressive social structures, governments and corporations. Vocalist Serj Tankian gets rather preachy on occasion, spouting expletives at regular intervals, but with good reason. The core of his sermonizing in track three "Boom!" is encapsulated in the following lyrics:
4000 hungry children leave us per hour from starvation
While billions are spent on bombs, creating death showers
The chorus of this track says it all; "Every time you drop a bomb, you kill the God your child has born." If only the Church proclaimed this message as often as SOAD do.
While anti-war, anti-corporate sentiment pervades most of this record, it's not all doom and gloom. Tankian's vocals are frequently playful and Dr. Seuss-like in their gibberish. The band has fun with tracks like the opener "Chic'N'Stu" (an ode to pizza) and "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" (tongue twisters tinged with Middle Eastern melodies); but they are brief intervals of comedy relief in an otherwise deadly serious protest rock album.
As it spans such a short career, you won't find much on this collection that is musically different from SOAD's previous two releases (apart perhaps from the nice acoustic number, "Roulette".) In fact, as an album of bits and pieces, it is impressive that it holds together so well. If this is the material that SOAD throw away, it makes their other albums seem even better. Again, the spiritual vitality of SOAD's music cannot be understated. They are a breath of fresh air amidst the usual fetid stench of modern alterna-rock and nu-metal.
Thank God for System of a Down.
[EXPLICIT LYRICS]
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