Mezmerize (by System of a Down, Alternative Rock)

The messages ARE good. Although it's gleefully explicit, CSM is absolutely over-exaggerating the content. Iffy for 17+? Mature 13 and 14 year olds should be allowed to listen to this. My 14 year old loves this album, and I am fine with that. And I don't have any good reason why my 17-year-old can't listen to it. Once you're 15, this stuff is anything but news and perfectly acceptable. And saying that 17 year old's can't listen to this is is absolutely positively crap. It's like saying a grown man can't listen to Eminem. And the lyrics are hilarious, and it's a great listen. Off for 12 and under. Iffy for 13-14. On for 15+ Buy this album for your teen today!

User: sanddude stole the words out of my mouth. "Off for 12 and under. Iffy for 13-14. On for 15+"

One of my favorite albums of System of a Down (next to Toxicity). The album speaks about politics mainy, and has sick guitar riffs. BYOB is my personal favorite from the album.

Look, this stuff is sending a good message. Just look at Serj Tankian helping out with Stopping the Killing in Darfur and recognizing the Armenian Genocide. All the swearing has no meaning unless you adults GIVE IT MEANING! Kids can give it a possitive meaning. It is bad if you say F*** YOU ALL!. But it is not if you say SAVE THE F***ING EARTH, GO GREEN!!!. It is all about perception. I'm only 13 and i understand that. It's not about what you say, its about what others hear. I think kids can hear a good message from this. (also these songs can be really funny)

The only real thing that bothers me is the language, but it doesn't swear as much as other bands. The CD is just amazing.

the lyrics are sexual, funny, and uses innapropiate language, but overall, people who like this band will like it, i recomend it for people 15 and up, it all depends by their parents

Every child needs some SOAD in their life

I love it ITs awsome perfect for enyone that knows not say bad words

I absolutely adore this album, as with all System of a Down's albums. I have been listening to System since I was about eight years old, as with other "inappropriate" bands/singers. None have encouraged me to curse or do anything "bad". Heck, I'm a fourteen year old girl and I can't recall a time I have lied or cursed, even with listening to music such as this. I know some parents might find System's lyrics distasteful, but hey, from the schools I've been to (public and private), I see fifth graders using worse words and talking about worse things than System does. The music is mostly political, or trying to open the listeners mind to new ideas, or steer them away from the commercialism and lies we face in our world/society. Don't be turned off by B.Y.O.B, it is the only song that is that "extreme" that System made. Any drugs that are in the songs are referred to in negative perspective, describing how they might ruin your life or alter your view on reality. The songs that use the worst language are "Cigaro" and "B.Y.O.B" (C**k, S**t, and f**k), but most teens hear these words daily, and much more of it in rap and hip-hop. The song "Violent Pornography" is basically about how the media portrays society on TV, and showing that the filth you find on TV now a days can be compared to a violent pornography, so if you were thinking this song was about sex, it's not. Much of the lyrics will probably sound like nonsense, but in order to understand all of their songs, you have to decipher the lyrics, so their songs also pose a mental challenge for the listener (that is if they care to know the meaning). The music itself mixes genres, but generally is rock/metal. In my opinion, this isn't their best album, but like all of System's albums, the music is poetic, entrancing, inspirational, eye-opening, VERY unique, political, and better than the usual stuff you hear. System also mixes some crude but funny humor in some of the songs. To put simply, if you don't want your kid to hear the reality of the world we are now facing, such as the degradation of American society and government, or don't want them listening to metal or a few bad words that they normally hear anyway, don't let them listen to the album. If all that is okay with you (which it should be), then go ahead and let your kid listen. ~Volchitsa