To appease Skullbrain's unwritten Canadian content law: Beyond The Black Rainbow - OST by Sinola Caves Didn't know that this had ever been officially released! Better late than never.
mighty dub don right there. People still lose it when he drops Dubkasm - Victory....Shanti-I is a legend
rediscovering early system of a down. i remember seeing them live back in 1999 as an opener for black sabbath and pantera, and not understanding really what i was seeing/listening. then i saw them on conan a year later, and that performance stuck with me for a long time.
I consider SOAD to be my favorite band because of how dedicated I was back when their first album dropped. I've never been as devoted to another band as I was to them back then. I remember seeing commercials on MTV with the video for Sugar in the background promoting their new album. Then I caught the video for Spiders late night on MTV. After I heard that guitar solo, I knew I needed more. I immediately looked for more SOAD the next day on Napster. Wound up downloading the song "Peephole" which totally blew my mind. Never heard anything like it before. I went right out and bought the album. Did everything I could to find more, but it was tough back then. I was able to track down an old demo cassette and also scooped up any b-sides or singles as they came out. But waiting those 3 years for Toxicity was agonizing. I remember being on the SOAD email list and getting the first listen to Chop Suey before it was officially released. They provided a unique URL that opened RealPlayer. I was so confused when the song started, I thought they sent the wrong link of something. I tried to play it again like 3 times until I actually let it play more than 5 seconds and realized I was actually listening to SOAD. Their sound changed so much I thought I was listening to something else entirely. I was in disbelief! My favorite band punched me in the gut. It took a while but Toxicity did grow on me, but it just wasn't the same after that. My impression is that they had a lot of freedom (money) and that enabled them to experiment with music (and drugs). Couple that with Serj becoming less interested and Daron becoming a larger creative force, they morphed into a totally different band. I was still obsessed for a few years but lost interest after Steal This Album. Their early stuff will always be very special to me.
yeah, when i first got into them (when i was 17), I saw toxicity as their top album. Now that I have picked them up after many years, their first album/early stuff is easily tops. That creativity and rawness is just amazing. The way they mesh traditional armenian folk music into metal is so good. i knew as a kid that there was something different going on with their music, but i just couldn't put my finger on it.