Mezmerize

Mezmerize
System of a Down's studio album
Publication (s)	May 17, 2005
Label (s)	Columbia (UK) American Recordings , Columbia (US) Sony Music Japan (Japan)
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Alternative metal , nu metal
Title (number)	11
running time	36 min 11 s
occupation	Singing , keyboard , guitar : Serj Tankian Guitar, vocals: Daron Malakian Bass : Shavo Odadjian Drums : John Dolmayan
production	Rick Rubin , Daron Malakian
Studio (s)	The Mansion, Laurel Canyon , Los Angeles , California and Akademie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound Research, Los Angeles, California
chronology Steal This Album! (2002) Mezmerize Hypnotize (2005)

Mezmerize (from English to mesmerize : to fascinate ) is the fourth studio album by the American metal band System of a Down . It was released on May 17, 2005 and is the first part of a double album that was completed with Hypnotize in autumn 2005.

Mezmerize became a commercial success and received positive responses from critics. Musically, in addition to harder rock music, many different influences can be heard on the sound carrier, which means that the album, like its predecessors, can be assigned to alternative metal.

Emergence

After System of a Down with Steal This Album! 2002 had released a number of unreleased songs from the Toxicity recordings, the four band members turned to their own projects. At the beginning of May 2004 it was announced that the band was planning to release the sequel to Steal this Album! record. At this point, System of a Down were already busy finishing pre-production for the as yet untitled album. The band moved into a Californian studio with producer Rick Rubin in early July of that year to begin recording, which lasted until November. Some of the written songs were several years old at the time of recording. Guitarist Daron Malakian explained System of a Down's production process as follows:

“We'll play a song through and record it, listen to it and decide what could make it even better - repeat a chorus, simple rearrangement, we all spark off of each other. Some of the new songs have really great moments - we want to make the entire song a really great moment. "

“We're going to play a song and record it, listen to it and decide what could possibly make it better - repeat a chorus, simple changes, we all kindle each other. Some of the new songs have really great moments - we want to make a great moment out of the entire song. "

- Daron Malakian : Statement in the music network Blabbermouth.net, 2004

At the end of August 2004, a planned release of the album in the fall of the same year was announced. Since then, the planned release date has been postponed several times: After the sound carrier was not released in December 2004, the next release date, January 18, 2005, was also discarded. During the postponement of these dates, the TV station MTV announced that the band would not release one, but two albums with a time delay. According to singer Tankian, this was by no means planned. When the band was busy selecting the 14 best songs for the album, it turned out that they had enough “great” songs for two albums. In retrospect, Tankian said they wanted to give buyers time to look at the songs. In an interview he outlined the criteria for distributing the songs between the two albums: “[...] It was about which songs work well together. We left out some fantastic songs entirely […]. The important thing is the flow of a record, an album doesn't just depend on the songs themselves. You have to dance well together. That was also our basic principle. "

Four months before the final release, in January 2005, the track "Cigaro" was made available as a free download on the Internet.

Track list

Singer Serj Tankian in July 2006

1. Soldier Side - Intro - 1:03 (Text: Daron Malakian / Music: Daron Malakian)
2. BYOB (Bring your own Bombs) - 4:15 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)
3. Revenga - 3:48 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)
4. Cigaro - 2:11 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)
5. Radio / Video - 4:13 (Text: Daron Malakian / Music: Daron Malakian)
6. This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song - 2:08 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)
7. Violent Pornography - 3:31 (Text: Daron Malakian / Music: Daron Malakian)
8. Question! - 3:20 (Text: Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian)
9. Sad Statue - 3:27 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)
10. Old School Hollywood - 2:56 (Text: Daron Malakian / Music: Daron Malakian)
11. Lost in Hollywood - 5:20 (Text: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian / Music: Daron Malakian)

style

music

As on the previous albums, System of a Down mix elements of Heavy Metal , Nu Metal and Alternative Metal with various other influences on Mezmerize . Before Mezmerize was released, Daron Malakian mentioned influences from artists such as Kraftwerk , Darkthrone , The Beach Boys and The Zombies . The musical elements on the sound carrier range from dynamic guitar playing in combination with accompanying drums to Armenian folklore and the use of electronic elements. The singing of guitarist Malakian represents a major difference to its predecessors: While most of the songs on Toxicity were sung by Serj Tankian, he shares the vocals with Malakian on Mezmerize . Some of the songs are almost completely performed by Daron Malakian. Shavo Odadjian's bass playing, on the other hand, is only sparsely present on the album , while it played a large part on older tracks by the band such as Sugar .

Artwork

On the cover of Mezmerize you can see a kind of figure on a black background. The figure itself is in sand colors , i.e. in lighter brown tones. While the lower half of the figure shows three facial sections, two of which are upside down, the actual head of the figure occupies the upper part. The eyes differ in color from the rest of the figure, as the iris is kept in a red tone. A clock with Roman numerals can be seen on the forehead of the figure , from which seven threads run down to which transparent balls are attached.

All artwork was designed by Vartan Malakian , the father of band member Daron Malakian. On the CD , the numbers from one to twelve are arranged in Indian-Arabic numerals around the center like a clock. The numbers and the background are colored in red and white tones. Most of the rest of the CD packaging is designed in purple, red and white. Eyes are suggested several times. Part of the CD cover from Hypnotize , the successor to Mezmerize , can be pushed into an opening in the CD packaging from Mezmerize , which connects both albums.

The corresponding booklet differs in color from the packaging. The pages on which the lyrics are printed are dark gray or black. An eye is indicated again on two other pages. The iris is framed by the numbers printed on the CD. The writing in the booklet with ink made of soybean printed. Furthermore, chlorine-free paper was used for the production.

reception

Chart positions and sales figures

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Mezmerize   DE 1 05/30/2005 (22 weeks)   AT 1 05/29/2005 (31 weeks)   CH 1 05/29/2005 (20 weeks)   UK 2 05/28/2005 (15 weeks)   US 1 06/04/2005 (44 weeks)

Singles

BYOB   US 27 04/16/2005 (20 weeks) Question!   UK 41 09/10/2005 (1 week)

Mezmerize made it to number one on the charts in twelve countries, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the German-speaking countries it stayed in the charts for up to 31 weeks, in the United States of America it was almost a year. More than 800,000 copies were sold in the first week of sales, 450,000 of them in the United States of America alone. The record company Sony expected more than half a million units to be sold, but it is not known whether this information only referred to the US or the global market.

Reviews

The majority of the trade press rated Mezmerize positively. The creativity of System of a Down with regard to the various musical influences has been praised several times. In contrast, the band's decision to release the album with a playing time of less than 40 minutes caused different reactions.

The US Internet service Metacritic can be taken as proof of the positive response : The website calculated a Metascore of 85 points from 19 reviews in English , with a possible total score of 100 points. According to the Metacritic classification system, this number of points corresponds to a classification as “generally critically recognized”. Johnny Loftus from the Allmusic Guide described the vocal changes on mezmerize between frontman Tankian and guitarist Malakian as a thrill and thought that both would spur each other on. He saw her singing as a contribution to the fact that "Revenga" is a "truly wild epic". In a review by Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian magazine , the author believed that the musical influences outside of metal would give mezmerize "its swing". David Fricke wrote in his review for Rolling Stone that the album, in its best moments, was a "poignant confrontation" of a nation that would "tear itself apart in anger, fear and guilt."

German-speaking media also wrote positive reviews of the publication. The Metal Hammer editorial team named Mezmerize album of the month. In the opinion of reviewer Matthias Weckmann, the fine work and small arrangements would make Mezmerize so valuable and impressive. He also compared the song “Question!” To the song “ Chop Suey! ", One of the most famous songs by System of a Down, and praised the transition from the aggressive piece" Cigaro "to the folkloric" Radio / Video ". Benjamin Fuchs from Laut.de also judged the arrangements on the sound carrier positively and mentioned in this context that “everything that made this band” was included on Mezmerize . Furthermore, the contrasts are emphasized and where the predecessor Steal this Album! Weaknesses show that "Mezmerize" almost only contains titles of quality class A. " Other media specialized in heavier rock music emphasized "that every song is an absolute catchy tune" ( Vampster ) or "[all] eleven versatile yet super catchy monster songs with killer hooklines, just like with" Toxicity "" ( Powermetal.de ) be. In his review, rock-hard editor Michael Rensen formulated some of the appearances on Mezmerize that were positively rated by his colleagues :

" Mezmerize exclusively contains hits from the 'Shop Suey!' Format, flawless, deeply independent and catchy tunes that go centimeters deep under the skin, full of magical melodies, perfectly balanced loud / quiet attacks and sound arrangements made by Rick Rubin grandiose"

- Michael Rensen, rock hard

The media reactions were not limited to specialist magazines: The Süddeutsche Zeitung said that the processing of various musical influences was no longer surprising, but author Caroline Daamen spoke about songs such as "Revenga", "Violent Pornography", "Question!" or “Lost in Hollywood”. The German website Metal.de gave the publication eight out of ten points, but criticized Daron Malakian's high proportion of the singing, as singer Serj Tankian had an “emotional” and “brilliant” voice. In addition, media such as Rock Hard or Vampster were contradicted because “no resounding“ suite pee ”, no“ war? ”, No“ deer dance ”and no“ chop suey ”can be found”.

Mezmerize can be found in a number of different leaderboards. The readers of the E-Zine Plattentests.de voted the album at number 10 of the best albums of 2005. In a vote by the authors of the Swedish magazine Close-Up , Mezmerize was voted number one in the “Top Metal / Hardcore Albums Of 2005” . In December 2005 the record label Roadrunner Records published favorites lists of nine musicians for the best album of 2005. Chris Spicuzza, member of the group Chimaira , placed Mezmerize in 9th place. For Phil Demmel of Machine Head the album was even the best of the year The editors of the German edition of Rock Hard paid tribute to Mezmerize : In the ranking of the best albums of all time, the editors ranked it 23rd.

Re-use

System of a Down provided twelve songs for their 2006 documentary Screamers , which takes up the subject of the Armenian genocide . These included the titles Cigaro and BYOB , which appeared on Mezmerize , and the latter is also featured on the Guitar Hero World Tour video game .

Awards

Within a year, Mezmerize was awarded the golden record in Germany, Austria and Switzerland . In the United States of America, the band was even awarded the higher platinum record after over 1 million copies of the sound carrier were sold there. The album was also certified with the platinum record in Australia. In 2007, Mezmerize was awarded the award three times in Canada, although only 300,000 units were required for certification.

At the Echo Awards 2006 , System of a Down for Mezmerize was awarded in the category “Artist / Group of the Year Rock / Alternative (international)”. This enabled the band to prevail against artists like the Foo Fighters or Audioslave . System of a Down also received an award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 : They prevailed against performers such as the White Stripes or Bloc Party in the “Best Alternative” category. The magazine Kerrang presented the annual "Kerrang Awards" in summer 2005, in which System of a Down were nominated five times, but were unsuccessful. Numerous awards and nominations for international music prizes for the single "BYOB" followed.

The German magazine Visions had the album in their list of the 66 + 6 best metal albums of the third millennium in spring 2017.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	gold	20,000
Australia (ARIA)	platinum	70,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	15,000
Brazil (PMB)	gold	50,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	100,000
Finland (IFPI)	platinum	33,068
France (SNEP)	gold	100,000
Greece (IFPI)	gold	10,000
Ireland (IRMA)	platinum	15,000
Italy (FIMI)	gold	50,000
Canada (MC)	3 × platinum	300,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Austria (IFPI)	gold	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold	20,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	100,000
All in all	10 × gold 9 × platinum	1,898,068

Singles and music videos

BYOB

Soldiers flag in BYOB music video

In February 2005 the song "BYOB" was announced as the first single. “BYOB” rose to number 27 in the US charts and lasted for 20 weeks. It is the band's top hit song on the Billboard Hot 100 . After 500,000 units were sold in the United States at the end of October 2005, the number sold doubled in July 2007. Accordingly, "BYOB" was certified by the Recording Industry Association of America with the platinum record at that time.

At the MTV Video Music Awards 2005 System of a Down were nominated for the music video of “BYOB” in the category “Best Art Direction in a Video”, but the award went to Gwen Stefani . Another - unsuccessful - nomination took place at the "Kerrang Awards": Both the single and the music video were represented in the associated categories, as was the case with the MTV Video Music Awards, but it was not enough for System of a Down to receive an award. For this, the single was awarded at the Grammy Awards 2006 in the category "Best Hardrock Performance". It was the first time System of a Down received a Grammy Award .

The accompanying music video shows a lot of dark-clad soldiers marching at the beginning. The soldiers wear helmets with words like “Buy” (to buy), “Die” (to die) and “Truth” (truth) lit up on their visors. System of a Down can be seen playing the song in the midst of the crowd of soldiers . After a while the sequence changes and a second plot can be seen. This is shown by the band during a fictitious visit to an art club, where mainly dancing people are. After the sequence has changed back to the marching soldiers in the meantime, you see System of a Down in the club again. There they play the song in front of the rest of the club's visitors. At some point soldiers storm the club and panic breaks out among the guests. After the sequence changes a second time, the band can be seen performing one more time in the club. There the soldiers stood in the ranks of the spectators. It is noticeable that the audience is now extremely calm during the band's performance. Furthermore, you can see civilians wearing the helmets of the soldiers, but other motifs are shown on the visors. At the end of the video you can also see the band members with their helmets.

On July 12, 2005, System of a Down auctioned a copy of the uniform worn by the soldiers in the music video on the Internet auction house eBay . Starting price was $ 250, with auction proceeds going to the Veterans Hospital of the United States Department of War Veterans .

Question!

The second single was the song “Question!” At the end of June 2005. After its release on July 19, 2005, it rose to number 41 in the UK singles chart , but only stayed there for a week. The music video was shot in Los Angeles in early July 2005. Directed by director Howard Greenhalgh and band member Shavo Odadjian. Odadjian had previously made the music videos for two previous System of a Down singles, "Toxicity" and "Aerials". The video premiered earlier the following month on the TV show Headbangers Ball on MTV 2. The content of the video is based on a dream by Shavo Odadjian and is partly surreal .

The first moments of the video are not accompanied by music. They show a small figure that kills a red bird sitting on a fence with a slingshot. While the figure aims at the animal, the background music begins in the form of the song. Then you see System of a Down playing the play in front of a theater stage at another location. A play is performed on the stage in which mainly a young protagonist and a young protagonist can be seen. When the action of the theatrical performance is on view, the theatrical scenes take up the entire video. Sometimes the video alternates between the playing members of the band and the play. The protagonist dies towards the end of the music video. Finally, individual images from the music video are reflected.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Benjamin Fuchs: System Of A Down In: Laut.de . Retrieved February 26, 2010.
2. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Begin Recording This Summer ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, May 10, 2004, accessed February 26, 2010. (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c} blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Prepare To Begin Recording New CD  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, July 7, 2004, accessed February 26, 2010. (English)
4. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Confirm Release Date For New Album ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, March 7, 2005, accessed February 27, 2010. (English)
5. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: New Album Due In The Fall ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, August 21, 2004, accessed February 27, 2010. (English)
6. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Release New Album In December ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, August 30, 2004, accessed February 27, 2010. (English)
7. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: New Album to Surface In January ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, September 25, 2004, accessed February 27, 2010. (English)
8. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Release Two New Albums In 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, November 10, 2004, accessed February 27, 2010. (English)
9. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: New Song Available For Download ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, January 13, 2010. (English)
10. ↑ ^{a b} Benjamin Fuchs: "Mezmerize" by System Of A Down In: Laut.de . Retrieved February 25, 2010
11. ↑ ^{a b c} metal.de: System Of A Down - Mezmerize May 15, 2005, accessed on February 25, 2010.
12. ↑ blabbermouth.net: Cover of Mezmerize. Retrieved February 24, 2010 (picture)
13. ↑ ^{a b} CD packaging and booklet from Mezmerize . Quote on booklet printing: “We don't have to cut forests to make paper anymore. That's why System Of A Down printed this CD booklet (printed with soy inks) on Vanguard Recycled Plus process chlorine-free paper, made from 100% tree-free fibers hemp and flax and 90% post-customer waste from livingtreepaper.com. "
14. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
15. ↑ ^{a b} prnewswire.com: System Of A Down Mezmerizes Music Fans Worldwide. Accessed February 20, 2010. (English)
16. ↑ blabbermouth.net: 'Mezmerize' Enters Billboard Chart At No. 1 - May 25, 2005  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records , May 25, 2005, Accessed February 14, 2010. (English)
17. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Sell Half-Million Copies Of 'Mezmerize' First Week? ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, May 17, 2005, accessed February 14, 2010. (English)
18. ↑ metacritic.com: Mezemerize reviews Accessed February 23, 2010. (English)
19. ^ Johnny Loftus: Mezmerize> Overview In: Allmusic . Accessed February 23, 2010. (English)
20. ↑ Caroline Sullivan: CD: System of a Down, Mezmerize In: The Guardian , May 13, 2005, accessed February 25, 2010. (English)
21. ↑ David Fricke: System of a Down: Mezmerize ( Memento of April 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Rolling Stone , June 2, 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2005. (English)
22. ↑ Matthias Weckmann: Album of the Month 07/05: Mezmerize  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   In: Metal Hammer . Axel Springer Verlag , accessed on February 25, 2010.
23. ↑ vampster.com: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: Mezmerize.Retrieved February 25, 2010.
24. ↑ Powermetal.de: System of a Down / Mezmerize Retrieved on February 25, 2010.
25. ↑ darkscene.at: System Of A Down - Mezmerize (CD) Retrieved on March 4, 2010.
26. ↑ Michael Rensen: System Of a Down - Mezmerize In: Rock Hard . Retrieved February 25, 2010.
27. ↑ Caronline Ladies: CD: System of a Down Mezmerize - Enough is not enough  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . Süddeutscher Verlag , May 16, 2005, accessed February 25, 2010.  
28. ↑ plattentests.de: Annual poll 2005 - The results. Accessed on February 24, 2010.
29. ↑ blabbermouth.net: Top Metal / Hardcore Albums Of 2005 As Voted By Writers Of Sweden's CLOSE-UP Magazine ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, December 6, 2005, accessed February 24, 2010. (English)
30. ↑ blabbermouth.net: More Musicians Pick Best Albums Of 2005 ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, December 19, 2005, accessed February 24, 2010. (English)
31. ↑ rockhard.de: The best records of all time. Accessed February 24, 2010.
32. ↑ imdb.com: Screamers (2006) - Soundtracks In: The Internet Movie Database . Retrieved February 15, 2010. (English)
33. ↑ imdb.com: Guitar Hero World Tour (2008) (VG) - Soundtracks In: The Internet Movie Database . Retrieved February 15, 2010. (English)
34. ↑ musikindustrie.de: gold / platinum database In: musikindustrie.de Bundesverband Musikindustrie, accessed on February 14, 2010.
35. ↑ ifpi.at: Gold & Platin In: ifpi.at IFPI Austria, accessed on February 14, 2010.
36. ↑ hitparade.ch: Search for: system of a down Retrieved on February 14, 2010.
37. ↑ riaa.com: SEARCH RESULTS Accessed February 14, 2010. (English)
38. ↑ aria.com: ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2005 Albums. Accessed February 14, 2010. (English)
39. ↑ cria.com: Certification Results. Accessed February 14, 2010. (English)
40. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Named 'Best Alternative' Act At MTV EUROPE MUSIC AWARDS  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, November 3, 2005, accessed February 20, 2010. (English)
41. ↑ oA: The 66 + 6 best metal albums of the millennium . In: Visions, issue 289, pages 52–66.
42. ↑ Award in Argentina
43. ↑ Award in Australia
44. ^ Award in Belgium
45. ↑ Award in Brazil
46. ^ Award in Denmark
47. ↑ Award in Germany
48. ↑ Award in Finland
49. ^ Award in France
50. ↑ Award in Greece
51. ↑ Award in Ireland
52. ↑ Award in Italy
53. ↑ Award in Canada
54. ↑ Award in New Zealand
55. ↑ Award in Austria
56. ↑ Award in Switzerland
57. ↑ Distinction in the United States
58. ↑ Award in the United Kingdom
59. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: New Album Release Date Confirmed ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, February 8, 2005, accessed February 21, 2010. (English)
60. ↑ riaa.com: SEARCH RESULTS Accessed February 20, 2010. (English)
61. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SLIPKNOT Among Nominees At 2005 KERRANG AWARDS  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, August 9, 2005, accessed February 20, 2010. (English)
62. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Honored With GRAMMY For 'Best Hard Rock Performance  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, February 8, 2006, accessed February 20, 2010. (English)
63. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Auction Off 'BYOB' Commando Uniform ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Roadrunner Records, July 12, 2005, accessed February 19. (English)
64. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Select 'Question!' As Second Single Off 'Mezmerize'  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, June 29, 2005, accessed February 21, 2010. (English)
65. ↑ ^{a b c} blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: 'Question!' Single To Go For Radio Adds This Week  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, July 17, 2005, accessed February 21, 2010. (English)
66. ↑ blabbermouth.net: New SYSTEM OF A DOWN, THE HAUNTED, CLUTCH Videos To Premiere On MTV2's 'Headbanger's Ball'  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, August 6, 2005, accessed February 21, 2010. (English)
67. ↑ blabbermouth.net: SYSTEM OF A DOWN: 'Question!' Video To Premiere On Friday  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Roadrunner Records, August 3, 2005, accessed February 22, 2010. (English)

predecessor	Metal hammer	successor
Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache	Album of the year 2005	Stone Sour - Come What (ever) May