Is anyone else getting slightly bored with System of a Down? A year ago they were fresh and exciting, an escape from the generic nu metal that was clogging up rock clubs and radio stations. We were all glad to see 'Chop Suey' topping MTV2's Most Wanted chart, and preventing the Kerrang! channel from becoming wall-to-wall Blink 182 clone TV. But that was a year ago. We've listened to the album a million times, to the point where it isn't fun. The unexpected tempo changes aren't unexpected any more. The funny bits stopped being funny on the thousandth listen. We can quote the statistics from 'Prison Song' without even thinking about what they mean. System of a Down aren't an escape from the tedium any more, they've become the tedium we need to escape from.

Unless they do an Incubus and go shite on us, System's next album is going to be fun and exciting again. But 'Toxicity', the fantastic piece of work that it is, has become stale. This is one of the more average songs on the album. Catchy, but not 'Chop Suey_'. I used to like it, now I can take it or leave it, but I have a feeling that, unless I can completely avoid music TV for the next three months, I'm going to grow to hate it.