SYSTEM OF A DOWN DISCOGRAPHY & VIDEOS

1. System of a Down (1998)

2. Toxicity (2001)

3. Steal this Album! (2002)

4. Mezmerize (2005)

5. Hypnotize (2005)

System of a Down

Released June 30, 1998, Length 40:41, Label American

1.Suite-Pee 2:32

2.Know 2:56

3.Sugar 2:33

4.Suggestions 2:44

5.Spiders 3:35

6.DDevil 1:43

7.Soil 3:25

8.War? 2:40

9.Mind 6:16

10.Peephole 4:04

11.CUBErt 1:49

12.Darts 2:42

13.P.L.U.C.K. 3:37

System of a Down is the debut album by American heavy metal band System of a Down, first released in 1998. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on February 2, 2000. Two years later, after the success of Toxicity, it was certified platinum.

Overview

The cover artwork is from an anti-fascist, World War II-era poster designed by the artist John Heartfield for the Communist Party of Germany, which was contemporary with and directly against the Third Reich. The text on the original poster is: "5 fingers has a hand! With these 5 grab the enemy!" This slogan inspired part of the text contained on the back of the System of a Down album: "The hand has five fingers, capable and powerful, with the ability to destroy as well as create". Later, it is written in bold letters: "Open your eyes, open your mouths, close your hands and make a fist".

Reception

Q magazine (10/01, p. 152) - 4 stars out of 5 - "This remains an excellent starting point for this most curious bands".

The album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes System of a Down at number 43, just after Iron Maiden's self-titled album and before Satyricon's Dark Medieval Times, in his classification of the best metal albums of all times.

Toxicity

Released September 4, 2001, Length 44:06, Label American

1.Prison Song 3:21

2.Needles 3:13

3.Deer Dance 2:55

4.Jet Pilot  2:06

5.X 1:58

6.Chop Suey! 3:30

7.Bounce 1:54

8.Forest 4:00

9.ATWA 2:56

10.Science 2:43

11.Shimmy 1:51

12.Toxicity 3:39

13.Psycho 3:45

14.Aerials 6:13

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 #1 on both the United States, with 220,000 copies, and #1 on the Canadian charts. Toxicity has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and is multi-platinum in the United States.

Toxicity was released without a Parental Advisory sticker, despite a fair amount of minor profanity.

Background

Toxicity received mass critical acclaim, making many end-of-year "best of" lists (such as being named SPIN Magazine's #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, with only minor 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 is listed in Blender's 500 CDs You Must Own. MusicRadar held a public poll and Toxicity was ranked as 26th 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 2000's.

Digital Dream Door has currently ranked Toxicity at #72 on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums", and #16 on their list of "100 Greatest Albums of the 2000's".

Reception

Metacritic a review aggregator website, 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.

Rolling Stone (9/27/01, p.70) – 3.5 stars out of 5 – "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."

Spin (p.89) – "System have an undeniable nerd-prog charm."

Entertainment Weekly (9/7/01, pp.161–2) – "Strange and engaging....It all adds up to bizarro type of metal that has a warped majesty and strength." – Rating: B-

Q magazine (9/01, p.121) – 4 stars out of 5 – "Matches Slipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringe rock of the '60s."

Alternative Press (2/02, p.64) – Ranked #9 in AP's "25 Best Albums of 2001."

Mojo (p.54) – Ranked #93 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics."

Robert Christgau – 1-star honorable mention – "Overarrangements no prob for we who avoid art rock like the plague this means to cure."

Steal this Album!

Released November 26, 2002, Length 43:31, Label American/ Columbia

1.Chic 'n' Stu 2:23

2.Innervision 2:33

3.Bubbles 1:56

4.Boom! 2:14

5.Nüguns 2:30

6.A.D.D. (American Dream Denial) 3:17

7.Mr. Jack 4:09

8.I-E-A-I-A-I-O 3:08

9. 36 0:46

10.Pictures 2:06

11.Highway Song 3:13

12.Fuck the System 2:12

13.Ego Brain 3:21

14.Thetawaves 2:36

15.Roulette 3:21

16.Streamline 3:37

Steal This Album! is the third studio album by American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on November 26, 2002, on American Recordings. Produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian, and reached #15 in the Billboard Top 200.

Album information

This album was released shortly after a collection of medium-quality MP3s found its way onto the Internet under the unofficial name Toxicity II, a year after the release of the group's multi-platinum record, Toxicity. The band issued a statement expressing their disappointment that their fans were hearing unfinished material, and released the finished versions of the leaked material. Most, but not all tracks from the original leak (e.g. "Cherry") made it onto Steal This Album!, and three new tracks such as "Roulette" were also added. Many song titles, lyrics, and melodies were changed, making the new album significantly different from the unfinished product.

Though often reported in the media as being a collection of B-sides and outtakes, the band insists that the Steal This Album! material is of the same quality as the tracks which made it onto Toxicity. Vocalist Serj Tankian has said that the songs were left out of Toxicity "because they didn't fit the overall continuity of the album". An alternate version of "Streamline" was used in The Scorpion King soundtrack, which was released in early 2002, and as a B-side on some copies of the "Aerials" single.

The album title is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's book Steal This Book, which is regarded as a classic example of counterculture literature. A similar title (Steal This Movie!) was used for a movie about Hoffman's life. A year prior to this album however, The Suicide Machines had already released an album titled Steal This Record. The Coup had also released a Steal This Album in 1998.

The packaging for this album is quite unusual. The album comes in a normal CD jewel case with only a disc and no booklet. On the CD and the back of the case, the text is styled as if written by a black permanent marker, in faux-bootleg appearance. This is an obvious response by the band to the people who leaked the original Toxicity II CD.

Most songs on the album have received limited play to a live audience. However, songs "Mr. Jack" and "Roulette" were played extensively to live audiences. Multi-instrumentalist Arto Tunçboyacıyan sings on the song "Bubbles", making his third appearance with System of a Down (having appeared on two songs on Toxicity).

In May 2009, drummer John Dolmayan revealed that the album is his favorite System of a Down release.

Reception

CMJ (12/16/02, p. 23) - "Both arty aggro and perverted political punk."

Entertainment Weekly (11/29/02, p. 105) - "Steal This Album stands head-and-tattooed shoulders above its competition in the hard-rock genre."

Rolling Stone (12/12/02, p. 93) - "An absurdist blast of political rage, silly theater and shattered math metal."

Spin (2/03, p. 96) - 8 out of 10 - "The way these simple songs blur together works in the album's favor: Just when you think you've got a foothold, the ground disappears under your feet."

Mezmerize

Released May 16, 2005, Length 36:15, Label American

1.Soldier Side - Intro 1:07

2.B.Y.O.B. 4:15

3.Revenga 3:48

4.Cigaro 2:11

5.Radio/Video 4:09

6.This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on 7.This Song 2:08

8.Violent Pornography 3:31

9.Question! 3:20

10.Sad Statue 3:25

11.Old School Hollywood 2:56

12.Lost in Hollywood 5:20

Mezmerize is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band System of a Down. It is the first half of the Mezmerize/Hypnotize double album. It was released on May 17, 2005, six months before Hypnotize, on American Records. The album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide since its release.

Background

Mezmerize was released to universal acclaim, scoring 85 at metacritic based on 19 reviews. 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.

Despite the time difference between releases, the album actually takes its name from the lyrics in the song "Hypnotize"; 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 most of the tracks.

The Japanese version of the album contains a slightly different mix of 'Soldier Side (Intro)' without strings, 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 the father of guitarist Daron Malakian, Vartan Malakian.

Hypnotize

Released November 22, 2005, Length 39:46, Label American

1.Attack 3:06

2.Dreaming 3:59

3.Kill Rock 'n Roll 2:28

4.Hypnotize 3:09

5.Stealing Society 2:58

6.Tentative 3:36

7.U-Fig 2:55

8.Holy Mountains 5:28

9.Vicinity of Obscenity 2:51

10.She's Like Heroin 2:44

10.Lonely Day 2:47

11.Soldier Side 3:40

Hypnotize is the fifth album by American heavy metal band System of a Down and the second half of the Mezmerize/Hypnotize double album. It was released on November 22, 2005, six months after the release of companion album Mezmerize. Mezmerize and Hypnotize both debuted at number #1 on the Billboard chart making the band one of the few to achieve this with two albums in the same year. Hypnotize was System of a Down's last studio album before their four year hiatus from August 2006 to November 2010.

Reception

Hypnotize opened at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 320,000 copies the first week. The album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 47,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA on December 13, 2005. Since its release, Hypnotize has sold 8 million copies worldwide.

Entertainment Weekly (No. 851, p. 100) - "[T]hey're flaunting a heretofore underexplored sensitive side, offsetting their trademark stampeding riffology with flashes of delicate lyricism." - Grade: B+

Rolling Stone (No. 988, p. 117) - 3.5 out of 5 stars - "Hell immediately runneth over on Malakian's scoured-staccato guitars and Dolmayan's furious hammering."

Spin (p. 62) - Ranked #20 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005."

Uncut (p. 109) - 3 stars out of 5 - "System succeed through their skill at wielding complex, progressive heaviness in a pop context."

The album was initially going to start with a Middle Eastern style instrumental track entitled "Hezze," which Malakian stated was one of his favorite songs on the record prior its release. It was dropped at the last minute because the group wanted to open the album with a heavy song and because the band felt it was incongruous with the other songs on the album. However, during live performance of "Mr. Jack" Daron will yell "Hello Hezze" after the first chorus. A funk/jazzy guitar instrumental, believed to be "Hezze" is then played after.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN ****

System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is an Armenian-American rock band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums). All four members are of Armenian descent, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs confronting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 as well as the ongoing War on Terrorism.

The band has achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums; three of their studio albums debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and won the award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "B.Y.O.B." On August 13, 2006, the group went on indefinite hiatus, but announced a reunion on November 29, 2010 with several shows planned at European music festivals for the summer of 2011, as well as several dates in North America in May.

History

Soil (1992–1994)

Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian all attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School while children, although due to their eight-year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording studio. They formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio quit the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere.

Demo tapes and signing (1994–1997)

After Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian, and Malakian formed a new band, System of a Down. The group took its name from a poem that Malakian had written titled “Victims of the Down." The word "victims" was changed to "system" because Odadjian believed that the alteration would appeal to a much wider audience and also because the group wanted their records to be alphabetically shelved closer to their musical heroes, Slayer. Odadjian switched from guitar to bass and passed on his managerial duties to Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and its founder David “Beno” Benveniste.The band recruited drummer Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, an old school friend of Malakian's and Odadjian's who had played with Malakian in a band called Snowblind during their teens.

System of a Down quickly made what is known as Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which was not commercially released but appeared on file sharing networks around the time of the band's success with Toxicity about six years later. Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996. At the beginning of 1997, System of a Down recorded their final publicly released demo tape, Demo Tape 3. In mid 1997, drummer Khachaturian left the band due to a hand injury (he subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan.

The band's first official release of a professionally recorded song was on a collection called Hye Enk ("we're Armenian" in English), an Armenian Genocide recognition compilation, in 1997. Soon after playing at notable Hollywood clubs such as the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room the band caught famed producer Rick Rubin's attention who asked them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, the group recorded Demo Tape 4 near the end of 1997. Unlike the previous demo tapes, however, Demo Tape 4 was made only to be sent to record companies (although it has since been leaked onto the internet). Rubin signed the group onto his American/Columbia Records, and System of a Down began to record in Rubin's studio, laying down tracks that would eventually be released on their debut album.

Also in 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band Award from the Rock City Awards.

System of a Down (1998–2000)

In June 1998, System of a Down released their debut album, System of a Down. They enjoyed moderate success as their first singles "Sugar" and "Spiders" became radio favorites and the music videos for both songs were frequently aired on MTV. After the release of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for Slayer and Metallica before making their way to the second stage of Ozzfest. Following Ozzfest, they toured with Fear Factory and Incubus before headlining the Sno-Core Tour with Puya, Mr. Bungle, The Cat and Incubus providing support.

In November 1998, System of a Down appeared on South Park's Chef Aid album, providing the music for the song "Will They Die 4 You?" Near the end of the song Tankian can be heard saying, "Why must we kill our own kind?" a line that would later be used in the song "Boom!" Although System of a Down is credited on the album, South Park character Chef doesn't introduce them as he does for all other artist featured on the record.

System of a Down's former drummer, Ontronik Khachaturian, briefly reunited with the band at a show at The Troubadour in 1999, filling in on vocals for an ill Tankian. In 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.

Toxicity and Steal This Album! (2001–2003)

On September 3, 2001, System of a Down had planned on launching their second album at a free concert in Hollywood as a "thank you" to fans. The concert, which was to be held in a parking lot, was set up to accommodate 3,500 people, however, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fans showed up. Due to the large excess number of fans the performance was cancelled by police officers just prior to the group taking stage. No announcement was made that the concert had been cancelled. Fans waited for more than an hour for the group to appear, but when a banner hanging at the back of the stage that read "System of a Down" was removed by security, the audience rushed the stage, destroying all the band's touring gear (approximately $30,000 worth of equipment) and began to riot, throwing rocks at police, breaking windows, and knocking over portable toilets. The riot lasted six hours, during which six arrests were made. The band's manager, David "Beno" Benveniste, later said that the riot could have been avoided if the group had been permitted to perform or had they been allowed to make a statement at the concert regarding the cancellation. System of a Down's scheduled in-store performance the next day was cancelled to prevent a similar riot.

The group's big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, despite the events of September 11. The album eventually achieved multi-platinum certification and has since sold over 12 million copies worldwide. It was still on top in America during the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding the album's hit single "Chop Suey!" The song was taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide." Regardless, the video gained constant play on MTV as did the album's second single, "Toxicity". Even with the controversy surrounding "Chop Suey!" (which earned a Grammy nomination), System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with "Toxicity" and "Aerials". In May 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.

In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot throughout the United States and Mexico. Following a performance in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Odadjian was harassed, ethnically intimidated, and was physically assaulted by security guards backstage, who then dragged him out of the venue. Odadjian received medical attention from police and later filed a suit against the security company. Despite the incident, the tour was a success and System of a Down and Slipknot went on the Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein in 2001.

In late 2001, unreleased tracks from the Toxicity sessions made their way onto the internet. This collection of tracks was dubbed Toxicity II by fans. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material and subsequently released the final versions of the songs as their third album, Steal This Album!, which was released in November 2002. Steal This Album! resembled a burnable CD that was marked with a felt-tip marker. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the band. The name of the album is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's counter-culture book, Steal This Book as well as a message to those who leaked the songs onto the internet. The song "Innervision" was released as a promo single and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for "Boom!" was filmed with director Michael Moore as a protest against the War in Iraq.

Mezmerize and Hypnotize (2004–2005)

The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, 2005. Like Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with The Beatles, Guns 'N Roses, and rappers 2Pac and DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B.", beating out other established artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "Lonely Day" was released in March in the United States. System of a Down released "Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next promo singles. The band headlined Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.Between 2004 to 2005, the group recorded the follow up to Steal This Album!, a double album, which they released as separate installments six months apart from each other, notably including album cover artwork by Malakian's father, Vartan Malakian, which was designed to connect the two separate album covers. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 2005 to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of A Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide. The Grammy Award-winning single "B.Y.O.B.", which questions the integrity of military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!" was released with Shavo Odadjian co-directing the music video. Following the release of Mezmerize, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with The Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip supporting.

Whereas on System of a Down's previous albums most of the lyrics were written and sung by Tankian and the music was co-written by Tankian and Malakian (and sometimes Odadjian) much of the music and lyrics on Mezmerize/Hypnotize were written by Malakian who also took on a much more dominant role as vocalist on both albums, often leaving Tankian providing keyboards and backing vocals.

Concert footage and interviews with the band concerning the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide were featured in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. An interview with Tankian's grandfather, a survivor of the Genocide, was also included in the film as well as Tankian's and Dolmayan's meeting with (then) Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert during which the two musicians campaigned for the United States government's official recognition of the Genocide. Footage of Tankian and Dolmayan marching with protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. was also used in Screamers.

System of a Down was honored at a University of Southern California game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, California in 2006. The Trojan Marching Band, along with Dolmayan and Odadjian, performed three System of a Down songs: "Toxicity," "Sugar," and "Hypnotize." System of a Down's song "Lonely Day" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, but lost to "Woman" by Wolfmother.

Hiatus (2006–2010)

In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian confirmed the break would probably last a few years, which Odadjian specified as a minimum of three years in an interview with Guitar magazine. He told MTV, "We're not breaking up. If that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this Ozzfest. We're going to take a very long break after Ozzfest and do our own things. We've done System for over ten years, and I think it's healthy to take some rest."

May 2006 also saw the UK publication of a biography of the band entitled System Of A Down: Right Here In Hollywood by writer Ben Myers. It was published in the US in 2007 through The Disinformation Company.

Malakian announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. System of a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on August 13, 2006 in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Tonight will be the last show we play for a long time together," Malakian told the crowd during Sunday's last performance. "We'll be back. We just don't know when."

Tankian released his debut solo album Elect the Dead in the autumn of 2007 to great critical and commercial acclaim. Malakian and Dolmayan released Scars On Broadway's debut self-titled album on July 29, 2008. Dolmayan, alongside working with Scars on Broadway, formed his own band, Indicator, as well as opened Torpedo Comics, an online comic book store. Odadjian pursued his project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, a hip-hop group named AcHoZeN, worked on his urSESSION website/record label, and performed as a member of funk legend George Clinton's backing band.

Reunion and tour (2011)

On November 29, 2010, following several weeks of internet rumors, System of a Down officially announced that they would be reuniting for a string of large European festival dates in June 2011. Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown, Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock. In their reunion statement posted on their website, the band was unclear as to the extent of their reformation. It read, "We have no master plan of sorts -- we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans." On March 1, 2011 the band announced they will play several shows in western North America in May and June. The reunion tour will commence on May 10, 2011 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. On May 4, 2011, Roberto Medina announced that System will be headlining Rock In Rio 2011 on October 02 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Style and influences

The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe, but System of a Down has, for the most part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This style has variously been termed alternative metal, alternative rock, rock, art rock, experimental rock, hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, progressive metal and progressive rock. Malakian has stated that "We don't belong to any one scene"and that "I don't like the nu-metal drop-A 7-string guitar sound; it is not my thing, at least not yet". According to Tankian, "As far as arrangement and everything, [our music] is pretty much pop. To me, System of a Down isn't a progressive band. [...] But it's not a typical pop project, obviously. We definitely pay attention to the music to make sure that it's not something someone's heard before."

The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars. According to Malakian, he would often write songs in E♭ tuning, which would later be changed to drop C tuning in order to be performed by the band. Malakian states that "For me, the drop-C tuning is right down the center. It has enough of the clarity and the crisp sound—most of our riffy stuff is done on the top two strings, anyway—but it's also thicker and ballsier."

The band's influences include Middle Eastern music, Ozzy Osbourne, Dead Kennedys, Frank Zappa, Slayer, The Beatles, and Van Halen. The band's musical style has often been compared to that of Zappa. Malakian has stated that "I'm a fan of music. I'm not necessarily a fan of any one band." Dolmayan stated "I don't think we sound like anybody else. I consider us System of a Down." Odadjian stated "You can compare us to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are."