Mezmerize is the fourth studio album by the 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. The album sold over 450,000 copies within the first week, and immediately topped the Billboard 200.
In 2025, Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian of Loudwire included the album in her list of "the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time", ranking it sixteenth.
Background Mezmerize and Hypnotize are considered two parts of a double album. Mezmerize 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.
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 the "non-stop disco" lines in "Violent Pornography":
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 "Cigaro" as a bonus track on the single for "B.Y.O.B." 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 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". It has also gained a user score of 8.5 on the platform. The album debuted at number one in at least 12 countries, including the US Billboard 200 on the chart dating June 4, 2005, with 453,000 copies, and has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The hit single "B.Y.O.B." won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Track listing All music written by Daron Malakian, except "Question!", written by Serj Tankian and Malakian.
Note Early releases of the album incorrectly credit Tankian as a co-lyricist on "Lost in Hollywood", this mistake was fixed on later copies.
Personnel Personnel taken from Mezmerize CD booklet, except where noted.
System of a Down Serj Tankian – vocals, keyboards, string arrangements, acoustic guitar on "Question!" (uncredited) Daron Malakian – vocals, guitars; bass, keyboards (uncredited)Alan Di Perna https://www.guitarworld.com/features/daron-malakian-21st-century-schizoid-man (September 29, 2008)Fabrizio Pedrotti https://fabriziopedrotti.com/2019/07/18/shavo-odadjian-system-of-a-down-nunca-va-a-morir/ (July 18, 2019) Shavo Odadjian – bass John Dolmayan – drums, percussion
Production Rick Rubin – production Daron Malakian – production Andy Wallace – mixing David Schiffman – engineering Jason Lader – editing Dana Nielsen – editing Phillip Broussard – engineering assistance John O'Mahony – mix Pro Tools engineering Steve Sisco – mixing assistance Joe Peluso – mixing assistance
Additional personnel Marc Mann – string arrangements Vartan Malakian – artwork System of a Down – design Brandy Flower – design
Charts
Weekly charts + 2005–2006 weekly chart performance for Mezmerize Chart (2005–2006) Peakposition European Albums (Billboard)1 Greek Albums (IFPI)1Japanese Albums (Oricon)6Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)5
+ 2018 weekly chart performance for Mezmerize Chart (2018) Peakposition
Year-end charts + 2005 year-end chart performance for MezmerizeChart (2005)PositionAustralian Albums (ARIA)40Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)24Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)65Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)44Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)65Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)80European Albums (Billboard)31French Albums (SNEP)85German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)25Italian Albums (FIMI)71Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)62New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)22Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)43Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)51Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)46UK Albums (OCC)108US Billboard 20032Worldwide Albums (IFPI)19
Certifications
References