by Mike Usinger on March 2nd, 2021 at 4:55 PM 1 of 3 2 of 3
Labels are endlessly fascinating, and often terribly misleading, when it comes to the world of music. Think about how the White Stripes were slapped with “garage rock” when they first exploded out of the American underground in 2001, even though that didn’t begin to describe “Hotel Yorba” or “We’re Going to be Friends”.
If ever-reliable Wikipedia is to be believed, System of a Down can be filed under (take your pick) alternative metal, nu metal, or heavy metal at the record store. That none of those tags do the tiniest bit of justice to “Arials” or “Cigaro” seems to matter to no one.