Review Summary: This album sounds like the B-side collection of a B-sides System album. It's still not bad, but there was potential for so much more...
Let me put this straight up front right now: I am a big System fan. I've been listening to these guys for years now, and I've dug everything they put out, especially Toxicity and the recent double combo of Mezmerize/Hypnotize. So to say I was approaching this release with high hopes, would be quite the accurate statement. I've always adored Serj's vocal stylings (and lamented the less gratuitous use on the later albums), and I was excited to see what Serj would come up with this time.
The answer is that it's exactly what System sounds like, the simple abridged form. One could construe that this is a plus; since System was known for being frenzied, schizophrenic and out-of-nowhere wacky, this album being the same would result in a good release towards the fanbase. However, I have one major complaint here: this is a Tankian solo record and not a System record. The Unthinking Majority sounds like what B.Y.O.B. would have been without the frenzied intensity or the ingenious vocal harmonisations. Empty Walls delves straight into Toxicity territory, but never sounding quite as convincing nor as genuine.
Sure, the bizarre frantic time-shifting madness is still there. Money features a slow, brooding intro, but quickly rages straight into some Hypnotize-era punishing riffs. The concomitant change of Serj from soft crooner to enraged shouts. However, it twists and turns into melodies vaguely reminiscent of the last System album, but endlessly meandering into nowhere. The frenzied choruses don't help to make the song's bizarre pitch-shifting any more ear-friendly. It just doesn't suit Serj this way, and I know System have pulled off some tricky stuff before, but this just doesn't stick with me.
This continues throughout the album. Every song on here sounds like the bonus track to some System album or another, but never on par with the frenetic quality of any of them. Serj's guitar pennings are loud, but they don't come over as imaginative or original; they rehash Daron's previous songwriting, and sound helplessly mediocre compared with most of them. It all sounds so "been-here-before", so utterly forced, and I can't help but think that Daron was the better songwriter of the two.
Of course vocally Serj still brings stuff to the table that we expect from him. On album opener Empty Walls, he trades spat-out lines with slow, enunciated syllables, pitch and tempo-shifting like the schizophrenic madman he is. However, this is really only one half of what made System great in the first place; I can't help but feel the loss of the perfect vocal harmonies Serj and Daron would pull off together, or lament the fact that Serj is singing over some of the blandest music he has ever created. We're still all able to (not) sing along with him on most of the songs, but what's behind that catchy exterior is mediocre to the last note.
Perhaps, then, the biggest complaint is that this album is not Toxicity. It definitely isn't that, but by way of trying to create a System record without half of the band (Dolmayan plays some drums), it fails miserabe. Serj should have tried to record something that is absolutely different, because by remaining in this style, it shows that his pen is only dipped in silver ink (compared to Daron's gold.) System was the result of teamwork, and alone, Serj isn't bad, but it just can't cut it compared to his older records. The fans will definitely eat it up, but this is a wasted chance for trying to be a unique artist and Serj blew that. Now for System to reunite so we can forget this one...
