Mezmerize (album)
Mezmerize is the fourth studio album by Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on May 17, 2005, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Upon its release, the album received acclaim from critics. At a length of just over 36 minutes, "Mezmerize" is the band's shortest studio album. Background. Despite the time difference between releases, "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" were recorded within the same time frame. The album features guitarist Daron Malakian sharing most of the vocal work with vocalist Serj Tankian, splitting the vocals at least halfway on many of the tracks. In 2018 , Malakian and Tankian both independently revealed that at the time of recording the two albums, Tankian was almost out of the band. According to Tankian, this was because of differences in creative input and financial revenue split. Malakian wrote "Old School Hollywood" after playing in a celebrity baseball game for charity. The song mentions Tony Danza and Frankie Avalon, who also played in the game. In "Radio/Video", there are lines referring to two people named Danny and Lisa. Malakian commented on the song to "Revolver" magazine: In the same interview, Daron Malakian talked about "Violent Pornography"'s "non-stop  disco" lines: The Japanese version of the album contains alternate mixes of "Soldier Side (Intro)" and "Lost in Hollywood", the former with additional strings and the latter containing slightly different background vocals, while the leaked MP3 version of "Cigaro" contains a 4-stick hit intro not present in the retail version. The album artwork is done by Vartan Malakian, the father of Daron Malakian. Reception. "Mezmerize" was acclaimed by critics, scoring 85 at Metacritic based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album debuted at number one in at least 12 countries, including the US "Billboard" 200, with 453,000 copies , and has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. The hit single "B.Y.O.B." won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance. Track listing. All lyrics written by Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian, except where noted. All music written by Malakian, except "Question!", written by Malakian and Tankian. Personnel. System of a Down Vocals Production Additional personnel