System of a Down’s Toxicity Stands as a Modern Metal Masterpiece

In a 2009 chat with Q magazine, legendary producer Rick Rubin pondered his initial interest in working on System of a Down’s 1998 self-titled debut album, confessing: “I loved them. They were my favorite band, but I didn’t think anyone was going to like them apart from a small, likeminded group of people like me who were crazy. No one was waiting for an Armenian heavy metal band. It had to be so good that it transcended all of that.” That first album was indeed “so good,” but like all great artists, System of a Down weren’t content to simply rehash things on their follow-up; instead, they challenged themselves to fully embrace the sounds and subject matter that they wanted to express. With the help of Rubin, they ensured that 2001’s Toxicity was a markedly more quirky, audacious, provocative, and lucrative collection. Twenty years later, it remains their magnum opus, as well as one of the most admirably diverse, characteristic, and striving LPs — in terms of both its music and messages — in modern metal. “I think we knew we had a good record [with Toxicity], but we didn’t know what the reaction was going to be,” singer Serj Tankian told Heavy Consequence in early 2021. “I don’t thi...