It’s a blast, is what it is. Despite bearing all the hallmarks of a cash-grabbing nostalgia trip, songs such as Hypnotize and Chic ‘N’ Stu, Bounce and Lost In Hollywood seem baked to order using only the freshest ingredients. Perhaps this is the least that can be expected from the very best – and certainly the most original – of the class of high-achieving innovators who helped guide metal out of the late-20th Century cul-de-sac in which the movement found itself. It may seem like a slight point, but even the absence of tattoos on the flesh of its four members speak of a refusal to conform to the genre’s universally accepted norms.
Tonight, in Tottenham, it‘s a pleasure to be in the company of such an eternally unusual and talented band. From the astoundingly cohesive rhythm section of drummer John Dolmayan and bassist Shavo Odadjian, to the multicultural magic on display in virtually every crevice, System Of A Down are both a corrective and a rebuttal to the prevailing forces of nativism and darkness. With its palate of colour and variety, theirs is the sound of life at its best.