To end the speculation, I will just post my final entry. Before I do so, I want to thank everyone who has followed my list, I had a lot of fun doing this list, even though the write-ups were sometimes a bitch. I hope my reviews for my album were actually informative and not too boring or too fanboyish - that's what I tried to do while writing them, anyway.
Here it is, my #1 album of all time:
01. System of a Down – Hypnotize (2005)And here we have my #1 album of all time, just as Elite called it, and I’m sure that there are few people, even among those that like System of a Down that would agree with this placement, but I can’t help it – not that I want to, anyway, because this album deserves nothing less.
In 2005, System of a Down released two albums, Hypnotize and Mezmerize, and while it seems to be almost general consensus that Mezmerize is the superior album, I never quite got where that was coming from. Sure, Mezmerize is a great album and if I didn’t limit myself to two album a band, then it would have shown up on this list as well, but there are a few tracks that I don’t really care all that much for.
Hypnotize, meanwhile, is absolutely flawless, with every track being a perfect 10/10, and some of them even surpassing that. Even the weaker tracks on this album are masterpieces that other bands could never even hope to touch, and the better tracks on this album are some of the best songs that I have ever heard, with Soldier Side being my favourite song of all time – everything on it, the lyrics, the melodies, the structure, and that goddamn powerful chorus are perfect.
Most of the flak that this album gets is probably for Lonely Day, which is, for System of a Down standards, a very conventional song, but apart from that there is really nothing wrong with it. The lyrics may seem a little cheesy, but they always seemed very honest and heartfelt to me, especially when I actually saw this song live. It also features an excellent guitar solo, which is a rarity for System.
Really, I could (like everyone else with their #1 album) go on for far longer than this, but I think that that’s all that needs to be said. This album is perfect in every sense, and while I doubt that too many people will agree with me, I would encourage everyone to try out this album at least once if they haven’t heard it yet.
Recommended tracks: Attack, Dreaming, Hypnotize, Stealing Society, U-Fig, Holy Mountains, Lonely Day, Soldier Side
There will be some honourable mentions to come in the next few days, consisting either of albums that just didn't make the cut, but are still worth mentioning, albums that mean a lot to me but didn't make the list because of my two-album-per-artist limit, or stuff that I have only known for too little of a time to be able to put it in this list, but that I feel that could, in the near future, easily make this list.
Again, thanks for following!