SOAD was formed by Serj Tankian on vocals and keyboard, Daron Malakian on guitar/back-up vocals, Shavo Odadjian on bass/back-up vocals, and John Dolmayan on drums. The best way I can describe these guys is experimental metal. There's no ground they're afraid to cover, and there's never a predictable moment. You think you have a feel for them, and then the ground underneath you crumbles.
As you can tell by their names, each member is foreign, Armenian to be exact, and they take influence from their culture's music and add it into metal. The result is very, very good. Serj is amazing at singing, screaming, and making odd noises. Daron's guitar work is great, even though he only has one (maybe two) guitar solo on the album. Shavo's bass is hard to hear most of the time, however. And John can keep a beat going.
This album will keep you gripped, if you come in with an open mind and like metal music, from the beginning of 'Suite-Pee' to 'P.L.U.C.K.' and enough to keep coming back to it. The real highlights of this album, though, are some of the crazier songs, like 'Sugar', where it sounds like Serj is having a panic attack while on drugs, and 'War?' where Serj takes the place of an ultra religious man leading an army against people he believes to be heathens, with the chorus having Serj scream 'We will fight the heathens!' over and over. Serj even introduces the song by saying 'God wants you to go to war! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!' when played live.
The album ends with 'P.L.U.C.K.' which stands for 'Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers', which is a heavy, but emotional song which features Serj screaming with Daron out of anger for the Armenian Genocide. "A whole race genocide has taken away all of our pride!" sings Serj, followed shortly by him and Daron singing "The plan was mastered and called genocide, never want to see you around. Took all the children and then we died, never want to see you around. The few that remained were never found." Showing that even though they weren't victims of the Armenian Genocide, they still care immensely for it, and if the genocide is going to go relatively un-noticed, they're going to keep reminding people that it happened.
A solid 7/10
Recommended Track(s): Sugar, Know, War?
