LATEST REVIEWS: SCREAMERS

LA City Beat, CA
Dec 7 2006

Heavy metal isn’t just mindless noise. Sometimes, maybe – but, in the
hands of the band System of a Down, it is a storm of sound and ideas,
a collision of wild intelligence and genuine rage. Nothing fuels that
rage more than the Armenian Genocide, a World War I-era atrocity
committed by Turkey that entailed the slaughter of one-and-a-half
million Armenians. It is a personal matter for the L.A.-based metal
quartet, all of whom are descended from genocide survivors. Screamers
is a primer for hard-rock fans on the first genocide of the last
century, arguing how denial that it took place has contributed to
other crimes against humanity in Darfur, Iraq, Bosnia, and elsewhere.

Director Carla Garapedian presents the crime through the eyes
of the band, which has used its notoriety and success (Grammys,
platinum albums, etc.) to educate the world about an atrocity that
remains unrecognized by the U.S. government. There are stirring
firsthand accounts, concert footage, and grainy historical images
of severed heads and hangings. In Washington, D.C., charismatic
singer Serj Tankian corners House Speaker Dennis Hastert beneath the
Capitol dome, but the Republican comes off as vaguely bumbling and
uninterested. Hastert hardly seems worth the trouble. But the mission
of one hard-rock group to correct the record on a piece of modern
history is a frequently moving, high-volume journey. (Steve Appleford)
(Mann Criterion 6, Mann Chinese 6)

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