Calgary Herald, Canada
Sept 20 2005
A systemic sonic assault
Heath McCoy
CREDIT: Jenelle Schneider, Calgary Herald
Serj Tankian and System of a Down rocked the Saddledome on Monday.
System of a Down performed Monday at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Attendance about 12,000
The opening chords of acoustic, protest song Soldier Side sounded
first, guitarist Daron Malakian singing the lyrics sweetly behind the
curtain.
Then the curtain dropped.
Malakian screamed maniacally, shredding away in true virtuoso,
metal-head fashion on his axe, joined by his System of a Down
bandmates. Machine-gun drum fills and barreling bass rhythms,
courtesy of John Dolmayan and Shavo Odadjian, respectively, filled
the Saddledome Monday night as 12,000 fans lost their minds.
Singer Serj Tankian led the band through a raging take of B.Y.O.B.,
from the Armenian-American band’s Mezmerize, which happened to be THE
album for the summer of 2005.
Nobody released a record as vibrant, as intense, or as
burned-into-your-brain infectious as Mezmerize. Even those typically
scared by the dizzying onslaught of thrash beats and shrieks could
not resist grooves as insanely catchy as the chorus of B.Y.O.B.
Opening with such power, System of a Down did not let up for the
remainder of the evening. Tankian led the band through Revenga next,
its lusty, gypsy refrain belonging to an Armenian circus tent as much
as to an arena rock show (but making the transition beautifully).
“We are here to feed all you starving rock ‘n’ roll children!”
declared Malakian, as his band proceeded to fulfil that promise with
one metallic morsel after another. Highlights included Needles with
its demented, Frank Zappa-esque rallying cry. This quirkiness
continued on the band’s scathing media-critique Violent Pornography.
Then there was the group’s slam on military machismo, Cigaro, first
delivered as a ballad, before the band launched into the thrash
attack heard on Mezmerize.
System also previewed a song from Hypnotize, the second act of
Mesmerize, which is set to hit stores in November. After the intro, a
few bars of Neil Young’s My My, Hey Hey, Malakian led the band
through the anthemic Kill Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Opening the show was The Mars Volta, an eight-piece prog-metal
jam-band from Texas that rose from the ashes of the acclaimed At The
Drive-In. A number of critics have declared this band brilliant,
which is the biggest crock you’ll ever read. Mars Volta’s sonic
blitzkrieg is ambitious to be sure, as drums thunder and guitar riffs
slither forth, like psychedelic beasts. The flutes and saxophones are
a nice touch, too. Singer Cedric Bixler has his moves down, wielding
his microphone stand like he’s warding off evil spirits.
It’s a shame about his high-pitched wail of a voice which is truly
grating.
It’s an even bigger shame that, instead of writing songs, the band
takes us on endless, jam-metal tangents. It’s about as pretentious as
it gets.
But no matter. System of a Down was the attraction and they made the
evening.