First album is genuinely fucking great. Listened to it last year and was surprised by how bare bones it feels. It was the first album of theirs that I owned and I remember being scared to listen to it without headphones as I thought my parents would hear the lyrics and flip.
Toxicity still holds up but after that itâs a descent into total nonsense. Daron Malakian should never have been allowed sing and âLonely Dayâ is one of the worst songs Iâve ever heard.
Feels like they were an important band for me because I listened to them a lot when I was a teenager but they were the end of a musical cul-de-sac for me and I havenât listened to them or anything that sounds remotely like them since I was about 15. Expect the first couple of albums still have their moments but when they lost it oh man how they lost it. A 2 because I liked them once but theyâre probably an objective 1.
Just remembered the time I was in a family-ish pub in Bristol (you know the sort: massive, terrible food, feels like it should be part of a chain but somehow isnât) and the tedious edgelord manager put on the song Violent Pornography. Bants.
Loved (still love) the first three albums. Not sure Iâve ever heard a band like them, great mix of completely bananas ideas, riffs and serious subject matter. Even the two terrible albums I have a soft spot for because I was the right age when they came out and they are pretty earwormy (still terrible though - cant believe they sidelined Serj in favour of whiny Daron).
Really enjoyed the bit in âWe are Lady Partsâ where the characters are driving around belting out Toxicity in the car. Got weirdly nostalgic about it.
Gone for a 5 as the first three are almost perfect. (actually switched to a 4 due to the drummers bad egg-ness)
I think I was probably a bit too old to really like them (I was 18 when their debut came out). They were the best of the bands that were lumped in with the nu-metal lot, even though they werenât really of that scene and were far too interesting to sit alongside Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
Only know Chop Suey. I find it hilariously daft and only ever play it to piss off my teenage daughters who claim it is the worst thing they have EVER heard (tbf, they say that about a lot of things).
I was too old for nu-metal when it happened. All of those bands seem like a joke to me.
I loved the first album in the hazy summer of 1998, think it has some songs which have still held up. Suite Pee, War? and Know are still ragers. Toxicity had some OK moments but I have absolutely no desire to listen to it again and find out.
Saw them at Brixton Academy in 2002 when I was already very over them. The Dillinger Escape Plan were their opener and just blew them away. Not a good live band.