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. 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.
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Note
- Early releases of the album incorrectly credit Tankian as a co-lyricist on "Lost in Hollywood", this mistake was fixed on later copies. except where noted.
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System of a Down
- Serj Tankian – vocals, keyboards, string arrangements, acoustic guitar on "Question!" (uncredited)
- Daron Malakian – vocals, guitars; bass, keyboards (uncredited)
- Shavo Odadjian – bass
- John Dolmayan – drums, percussion
Production
- Rick Rubin – production
- Daron Malakian – production
- Andy Wallace – mixing
- David Schiffman – engineering
- Jason Lader – editing
- Dana Neilsen – 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
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ 2005–2006 weekly chart performance for Mezmerize
! Chart (2005–2006)
! Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| European Albums (Billboard)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| style="text-align:center;"|40
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)
| style="text-align:center;"|24
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| style="text-align:center;"|65
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| style="text-align:center;"|44
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| style="text-align:center;"|65
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| style="text-align:center;"|80
|-
!scope="row"|European Albums (Billboard)
| style="text-align:center;"|31
|-
!scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)
| style="text-align:center;"|85
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| style="text-align:center;"|25
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)
| style="text-align:center;"|71
|-
!scope="row"|Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)
| style="text-align:center;"|62
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| style="text-align:center;"|22
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)
| style="text-align:center;"|43
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)
| style="text-align:center;"|51
|-
!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
| style="text-align:center;"|46
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
| style="text-align:center;"|108
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
| style="text-align:center;"|32
|-
!scope="row"|Worldwide Albums (IFPI)
| style="text-align:center;"|19
|}