In a 2009 chat with Q magazine, legendary producer Rick Rubin pondered his initial interest in working on System of a Down’s 1998 self-titled debut album, confessing: “I loved them. They were my favorite band, but I didn’t think anyone was going to like them apart from a small, likeminded group of people like me who were crazy. No one was waiting for an Armenian heavy metal band. It had to be so good that it transcended all of that.”
That first album was indeed “so good,” but like all great artists, System of a Down weren’t content to simply rehash things on their follow-up; instead, they challenged themselves to fully embrace the sounds and subject matter that they wanted to express. With the help of Rubin, they ensured that 2001’s Toxicity was a markedly more quirky, audacious, provocative, and lucrative collection. Twenty years later, it remains their magnum opus, as well as one of the most admirably diverse, characteristic, and striving LPs — in terms of both its music and messages — in modern metal.
“I think we knew we had a good record [with Toxicity], but we didn’t know what the reaction was going to be,” singer Serj Tankian told Heavy Consequence in early 2021. “I don’t think you ever do, really, especially as the type of band that we were. We were not a radio band. There were plenty of radio bands in rock that were around us that basically relied on singles to sell records. And our first record, we didn’t really have much of a single — I think “Sugar’ was maybe played on some specialty shows or whatever, from that record.”
Not only is Tankian exceedingly melodic and eccentric throughout Toxicity, but Daron Malakian also upped the ante on his singing and guitarwork, guaranteeing that each track was “bulky-sounding” and dynamic. Of course, they integrated a greater array of instrumentation and genres, too, by using sitar, piano, strings, banjo, and even an Armenian Oud to tap into jazz, progressive rock, folk, and Greek music. Many of these decisions — in addition to their need to accentuate immediately engaging songwriting — were inspired by the Beatles.
Likewise, Toxicity discussed a wider array of topics than its precursor, ranging from serious commentaries on police brutality (“Deer Dance”), death (“Chop Suey!”), environmentalism (“ATWA”), and the Armenian genocide of 1915 (“Arto”) to sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll (“Bounce” and “Psycho”). Despite the social issues that permeate the album, SOAD rejected the notion that they were strictly a political band.
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