System of a Down promises Hypnotize/Mezmerize in 2005

The critically acclaimed System of a Down have announced their follow up to Toxicity will be released as a two album set split over two release dates separated by six months.

The first half, titled Hypnotize will be in
stores late first quarter 2005, while Disc 2 (Mesmerize) is expected to
see a late Summer/early Fall 2005 release date on the American
Recordings/Columbia Records label. The band is currently in a Los Angeles
studio doing vocals.
You can click Read More for some comments from the band regarding the release.

"There has been a great deal of upheaval, very troubling times for all of us
over the past year or so," said vocalist Serj Tankian, "and that has brought
forth a lot of emotional material. There's a good amount of social
commentary in the new songs, as well as songs where we deal with love, with
reminiscing, relationships, politics, and funny experiences."

System of a Down (Daron Malakian, guitars; Tankian, vocals; Shavo Odadjian,
bass; John Dolmayan, drums) came up with the idea of a double album out of
sheer necessity. Malakian who wrote most of the new songs and is producing
the album with Rick Rubin, explained, "When we started recording, we were
focused on making every song the best it could be, to really give a thousand
percent to every, single track. Doing a two album set never entered into
our thought process. But when we looked at all the songs we had and
arbitrarily tried to choose 'the best' fourteen for one album, we realized
we had two album's worth of really great songs, and that they all connected
with each other. We didn't chase this idea, it chased us."

The decision to release the two discs six months apart was made simply to
give fans time to get into and really live with the music from Disc 1 before
plunging into Disc 2. Both "Hypnotize/Mesmerize" discs will be completely
recorded, mixed, and sequenced at the same time, before Disc 1 of the two
album set is released.

Malakian recently told Entertainment Weekly that the new music "is more
mature," and promises "an orchestra, some obscure Middle Eastern
instruments, and 'pure schizophrenia.'"

"Hypnotize/Mesmerize" will be the follow-up to the five-million-selling
"Toxicity" which was released in September 2001 and debuted in the Number
One position on the Billboard/Soundscan charts. Of that album, Rolling
Stone wrote, "'Toxicity' resembles nothing else in contemporary hard rock,"
and the New York Times commented, "System of a Down is light years removed
from the going trend in metal." "Toxicity" generated four Top 10 singles,
including the #1 smash "Aerials," and was named "2001's Best Album of the
Year" by SPIN Magazine.