Toxicity (album)

Toxicity
Studio album by System of a Down
Released	September 4, 2001
Recorded	March – July 2001 Cello Studios Hollywood, California
Genre	Alternative metal, heavy metal, experimental rock, art rock
Length	44:06 57:31 (special edition)
Label	American
Producer	Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian, Serj Tankian
System of a Down chronology
System of a Down (1998) Toxicity (2001) Steal This Album! (2002)
Singles from Toxicity
"Chop Suey!" Released: August 13, 2001 "Toxicity" Released: January 22, 2002 "Aerials" Released: June 10, 2002

Toxicity is the second album by American heavy metal band System of a Down. Produced by Rick Rubin, Toxicity was released on September 4, 2001 by American Recordings, debuting at number 1 on both the United States, with 220,000 copies, and number 1 on the Canadian charts. Toxicity has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and is multi-platinum in the United States. The band have mentioned the ironic predicament of the album being released exactly one week before 9/11 on numerous occasions.

Background

Toxicity received mass critical acclaim, making many end-of-year "best of" lists (such as being named Spin's number 1 record of the year), and earning a Grammy Award nomination for lead single "Chop Suey!"

This album marks a sonic departure from the heavy guitar riffing featured on their debut album. It is the only System of a Down album not to feature the Parental Advisory label, while maintaining a moderate amount of profanities. However, a limited edition of the album containing a bonus CD with behind the scenes footage of the making of the album does feature the Parental Advisory label, while a different limited edition containing a DVD with the "Toxicity" music video and live footage also does not feature the label.

Several songs have been featured in various video game soundtracks. In 2002, "Science" and "Shimmy" were featured in the games ATV Offroad Fury 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 respectively. The song "Chop Suey!" is featured in Rock Band 2 in 2008, and "Toxicity" is featured in Guitar Hero: Metallica and as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. The song "X" was originally recorded for the band's 1998 self-titled debut but it was re-worked for Toxicity.

The album's lyrics, typically for the band, are often political in nature; for instance, "Prison Song" criticises the prison-industrial complex and the drug war, while the lyrics of "Deer Dance" allude to anarchist historian Howard Zinn's memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train ("We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train").

Accolades

The album is listed in Blender's 500 CDs You Must Own. MusicRadar held a public poll and Toxicity was ranked as 28th greatest heavy metal album in the list of The 50 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. The album is ranked at number 44 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the Decade for 2000s.

Digital Dream Door has currently ranked Toxicity at number 72 on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums", and number 16 on their list of "100 Greatest Albums of the 2000s". Alternative Press ranked it number 9 in its "25 Best Albums of 2001" (Feb 2002, p.64). Mojo ranked it number 93 in its "100 Modern Classics" (p.54).

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(73%)
Review scores
Source	Rating
E! Online	A−
Allmusic
Q
Entertainment Weekly	B−
Alternative Press	(9/10) Oct 2001, p.102
Blabbermouth.net
Kerrang!
Rolling Stone
Sputnikmusic

Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album an average score of 73% from nine reviews, which indicates "generally favourable reviews". Don Kaye of Blabbermouth.net gave the album ten out of ten, one of only 21 albums to achieve a perfect rating from the site.

Keith Harris of Rolling Stone gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Both manic and schizoid, Tankian veers easily from sing-rap rhythm to Korn-ish hysterics to demonic baritone growl to doomily ruminative....the music insists on forward motion without trapping itself in a thrashy lock-step rut" (Sept 27 2001, p.70).

Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B- and wrote, "Strange and engaging....It all adds up to bizarro type of metal that has a warped majesty and strength" (Sept 7 2001, pp. 161–162). Q gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Matches Slipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringe rock of the '60s" (Sept 2001, p. 121).

Spin wrote, "System have an undeniable nerd-prog charm" (February 2005, p. 89). Robert Christgau gave the album 1-star honorable mention and said, "Overarrangements no prob for we who avoid art rock like the plague this means to cure."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Serj Tankian, except where noted, all music composed by Daron Malakian, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Prison Song"	Tankian, Malakian		3:21
2.	"Needles"	Tankian, Malakian	Tankian, Malakian	3:13
3.	"Deer Dance"	Tankian, Malakian		2:55
4.	"Jet Pilot"		Odadjian, Malakian	2:06
5.	"X"			1:58
6.	"Chop Suey!"	Tankian, Malakian		3:30
7.	"Bounce"		Odadjian, Malakian	1:54
8.	"Forest"			4:00
9.	"ATWA"	Tankian, Malakian		2:56
10.	"Science" (feat. Arto Tunçboyacıyan)			2:43
11.	"Shimmy"		Tankian	1:51
12.	"Toxicity"		Odadjian, Malakian	3:39
13.	"Psycho"			3:45
14.	"Aerials"	Tankian, Malakian		6:13
Total length:				44:06

^ I "Aerials" contains the hidden track "Der Voghormia", but fans called it "Arto", the song, that was composed by Arto Tunçboyacıyan.

Special Edition bonus CD
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Sugar" (live)		Odadjian, Malakian	2:27
2.	"War?" (live)			2:48
3.	"Suite-Pee" (live)			2:58
4.	"Know" (live)		Odadjian, Malakian, Tankian	3:03
5.	"Johnny"		Tankian	2:09

Personnel

System of a Down

• Serj Tankian – lead vocals, keyboards
• Daron Malakian – guitars, vocals
• Shavo Odadjian – bass
• John Dolmayan – drums

Production

• Produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian
• Co-Produced by Serj Tankian
• Mixed by Andy Wallace
• Engineered by David Schiffman
• Additional Engineering by Greg Collins and Darren Mora
• Assistant Engineers: Darrn Mora, Al Sanderson, Ryan McCormick, Jim Champagne
• Assistant Mixdown Engineer: Rich Balmer
• Additional Vocals/Music by Arto Tunçboyacıyan
• Additional Piano by Rick Rubin
• Strings Written by Serj Tankian
• Additional Strings Written by Marc Mann
• Strings Arranged and Conducted by Marc Mann

• Photography: Martyn Atkins (Studio), Glen E. Friedman (Back Cover, Water), John Dolmayan, Hallie Sirota
• Cover Art: Mark Wakefield
• Art Direction: Shavo Odadjian & Brandy Flower
• Album Art Concepts: Shavo Odadjian & System of a Down
• Inside Collage Art: John Dolmayan & Brandy Flower
• Co Label Art: Shavo Odadjian
• A&R direction: Dino Paredes
• Production Coordinator: Lindsay Chase
• Worldwide Representation: David Benveniste, Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group
• Recorded at Cello Studios, Hollywood, CA
• Mixed at Enterprise Studios, Burbank, CA
• Mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering, Studio City, CA

Chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2001	Billboard 200	1
	UK Albums Chart	13
	Australian ARIA Top 50	6
	Canadian Album Chart	1
	New Zealand Top Album Chart	7

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2001	"Chop Suey!"	Billboard Hot 100	76
		Modern Rock Tracks	7
		Mainstream Rock Tracks	12
		Australian ARIA Top 50	14
2002	"Toxicity"	Billboard Hot 100	70
		Modern Rock Tracks	3
		Mainstream Rock Tracks	10
		Australian ARIA Top 50	39
	"Aerials"	Billboard Hot 100	55
		Modern Rock Tracks	1
		Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
		Australian ARIA Top 50	36

Preceded by Iowa by Slipknot

Canadian Albums Chart number-one album September 22 - September 28, 2001

Succeeded by Silver Side Up by Nickelback

Preceded by Aaliyah by Aaliyah

Billboard 200 number-one album September 22 – September 28, 2001

Succeeded by The Blueprint by Jay-Z

External links

• "Toxicity" Official Music Video on YouTube
• "Toxicity" Live Performance Video on YouTube
• "Chop Suey!" Live Performance Video on YouTube