The beginning of Hypnotize sounds like the band is in mid-stride, as Attack returns to the kind of no-frills ferocity System Sharp, staccato riffs, frenzied beats and effective vocal work This is the ideal combination of what System Of A Down managed to blend both Daron and Serj voices perfectly, while also perfectly mishmashing guitar crunching with well-organized riffs. Anyone who had doubts of a band selling out when Daron Malakian started singing will have their doubts thrown right back at them. Of A Down's standard nu-metal sound, but experiments with different guitar influences, even funk. Or maybe not a follow-up, because these two albums unite to form one in more ways than just musically. Of A Down released its direct follow-up, Hypnotize. About six months after the release of Mezmerize, System Their most accomplished outing to date, Mezmerize lived up to all the heightened expectations, delivering a hair-raising blast of modern metal, fused with punk and Eastern European musical influences, and held together by a maniacal creative spirit, offering the kind of musical variety that highlighted 2001's Toxicity, but sounding much more cohesive. Of A Down have always been political, have always been crazy, and have made songs with some very off the wall lyrics.