Hypnotize Songs Ranked

Hypnotize is the fifth studio album by Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down. It was released on November 22, 2005, six months after the release of its companion album Mezmerize. Mezmerize and Hypnotize both debuted at number #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making the band one of the few to achieve this with two albums in the same year. Hypnotize was the last album System of a Down released before going on a four-year hiatus in 2006, and the band didn’t release new music for more than a decade, until late 2020 when they unexpectedly released two new songs. Hypnotize received generally positive reviews. It opened at number 1 on the Billboard 200, with 320,000 copies sold in the first week. The album also debuted at number 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 47,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA on December 13, 2005. Since its release, Hypnotize has sold 8 million copies worldwide. Here are all of Hypnotize songs ranked.

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12. She’s Like Heroin

“She’s Like Heroin” continues the weird and crazy streak with a heavy rocker about a prostitute, a crossdresser, and a drug addict all in the same song. At least that’s what I think it’s about. It’s short but catchy and fun.”

11. Stealing Society

“Stealing Society” picks things right back up with a very Toxicity-esque intro (that’s almost derailed with the random “yeahs” and “alrights”) and then some cool guitar riffs from Daron and very melodic vocals from Serj. I also like the bridge with Daron singing in this motormouth cuss-out style.”

10. U-Fig

U-Fig” starts with a guitar opener (notice a pattern, here?) before going into Serj’s second best vocal effort on the album. Really heavy track while still managing to keep itself together in a mid-tempo paced. Also has a really cool quiet part in the middle that immediately erupts back into the heaviness.”

9. Vicinity of Obscenity

“Vicinity of Obscenity” brings back the instrumental variety and weird lyricism of the bands youth by balancing between straight up heavy metal to straight up disco and funk music. It’s very dancy, yet headbangy all at the same time before descending into a really heavy outro leading into the next song.”

See more: System of a Down Albums Ranked

8. Attack

“We start things off with the appropriately named “Attack”. While Mezmerize started off with the short and quiet “Soldier Side – Intro”, “Attack” comes in full force with shredding guitars, blast beats, and aggressive lyrics. Setting the stage for the rest of the album, it is a fantastic opener. Also, I hope you like Rick Rubin’s signature “Loudness War Clipping” because, while it wasn’t much of a problem earlier on, but now it’s pretty present throughout most of the album.”

7. Kill Rock ‘N Roll

“Kill Rock ‘n Roll”, I honestly don’t really like this song. It’s just one of those comedy tracks that they sometimes do, but this one falls really flat and it’s just plain forgettable.”

6. Tentative

“Tentative” starts off with a frantic guitar riff and the band joining in right after. Serj also gives his best vocal effort on the album, as well. I mentioned in the Mezmerize review that Serj had to be dragged into doing this album as he didn’t really feel like doing that album. Well here, he REALLY doesn’t sound like he wants to even be on this album. He’s not bad at all, but you can tell he sounds almost bored of doing this album. I mean if I had to deal with a first half this half-assed I’d probably be bored, too.”

See more: System of a Down Songs Ranked

5. Dreaming

“Dreaming” continues the high speed aggression with dark lyrics about…well I’m not sure what the lyrics are about but they are quite dark. There’s also some pretty cool quiet parts during the bridge that help keep the variety and appeal of the band.”

4. Lonely Day

“Lonely Day” slows things down with a depressing track about everyday of my life. It’s poetic lyrics and catchy, beautiful instrumentation keeps it from being a wangst-fest. We also get a really cool guitar solo from Daron, which was pretty rare to hear on a System album.”

3. Soldier Side

“And to close out Hypnotize, we have the full version of “Soldier Side”. Originally appearing on Mezmerize as a very short intro, the full length version appears here as the outro. The powerful and emotional narrative in the lyrics and the beautiful guitar tone and vocal melodies make this one of System’s best closing songs. “

2. Hypnotize

“Hypnotize” combines the poppier sound of this album and Mezmerize with the bands well know political lyricism. It’s catchier and more memorable than the previous track, but it’s still kinda bland and just sounds like a radio single they were forced into making for their label or something.”

1. Holy Mountains

“Holy Mountains”, the lyrical sequel to “P.L.U.C.K.” is a very underrated song. It’s dark and at times almost atmospheric. It’s melancholic quiet verses leading into it’s very angry and aggressive pre-chorus leading into a somewhat hopeful sounding chorus. It shows that even at this stage, SOAD still had some amazing talent and songwriting still buried deep inside of them.”