It’s interesting how anniversaries of significant historical events can trigger memories of the music you were listening to. For example, this writer happened to be bumping Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush quite a bit during March 2020, so that album is now forever synonymous with those surreally dystopian days when COVID hit the fan. And each 9/11, System of a Down’s breakout album Toxicity starts playing in my head. Not only did the album hit #1 on that fateful day 23 years ago, but the whole vibe of that record, the intensity, the chaotic rhythms, the anger, the subtly poignant moments, the West Asia flavoring of the music, coupled with coincidentally topical lyrics, all gave what was already a stirring album that much more added weight at the time.
\While System of a Down’s oddball take on alt-metal was always inherently weird, they evolved musically on Toxicity as well, sounding downright emotive at times, as this excellent performance from 2002 of “ATWA” (an underrated gem from that album) aptly demonstrates. Crank it:
