100 Greatest songs of the 00’s #11 System of a Down – Chop Suey!

Released: 2001

A genre renowned for having so many almost mutually exclusive branches of it’s family tree, what was once known as heavy metal typically observed one twentieth century rule; the closer it got to the mainstream, the more creatively hollowed out it became.

System of a Down were pioneers of the exception to that rule as a new millennium took hold. Whereas the innate stupidity of acts like Limp Bizkit bordered on the offensive, the LA quartet’s furious mash up of amongst many things hardcore, thrash, classicist rock and even ethnic folk proclaimed them as forerunners of an open minded new generation.

A youthful audience came with them; the quartet’s second album Toxicity broke records almost from the beginning and led by their messianic frontman Serj Tankian, from an outsider’s perspective they offered some unflinching portraits of a sociopathic America.

At the apex was Chop Suey! a song which twitched on a 6/8 time signature, Tankian’s voice swooping from growl to operatic peak in moments, the screeching guitar chassis delivering a nightmare thrill ride for the uninitiated. Both singer and band have been cagey on it’s precise meaning, but ambiguity was in itself a refreshing quality when the competition was talking about chocolate starfishes. With it’s coming Metal had escaped it’s own self-fulfilling prophecy.