System of a Down has made chart history, becoming the first band to debut two different studio albums at number one in the Billboard chart in the same calendar year. Holding back former chart-topper Kenny Chesney, the L.A.-based outfit's Hypnotize was the biggest selling album of last week, moving 320,000 first-week copies, according to SoundScan.

Only two other acts have accomplished such a two-fer since the inception of the Billboard chart in 1983. The Beatles landed the compilation albums Anthology 2 and Anthology 3 on top in 1996 and rapper DMX accomplished the feat in 1998 with his first two solo albums, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, but SOAD is the first band to achieve the mark with studio albums.

Hypnotize is the second installment in System's song cycle that began with May's Mesmerize. That disc opened at number one with a more robust 453,000 copies. With a boost from the Hypnotize release hype last week, Mezmerize sold 20,000 more, climbing 21 spots to 97; it has now moved 1.5 million copies.

'Hypnotize': All the Surprises You Expect!
Before Armenian American art-metal heroes System of a Down hit big with "Mezmerize" last May, political hard-rock albums were usually pretty insufferable, filled with dated rhetoric about the New World Order (we're looking at you, Rage Against the Machine) or formless railings against the Man (everyone else). "Mezmerize" was a revelation, settling the question of what Noam Chomsky would sound like if he fronted a faster, lumpier version of Primus.

System might not have had much new to say about the war in Iraq (the band's against it, in case you were wondering), but it has an absurdist streak to rival Captain Beefheart's and an unerring instinct for the jugular, and never before have such competing instincts been put to such good use.

System of a Down is a heavy-metal band that can do fury and aggression with the best of them. And yet here is Daron Malakian, the chief architect of the group's sound, shuffling into the 1st Mariner Arena dressing room, shoulders slumped, face drooping, eyes averted, as if he's the most timid person in the building, if not the entire Inner Harbor. He nods at a visitor, then meekly extends his arm and offers a totally un -rock-and-roll handshake, a sort of dead fish with fingers.


His assistant appears more self-assured than Malakian does. So do the System roadies, the band's personal chef, Malakian's leggy fashion-model girlfriend, the tour-bus driver -- even the woman selling hot dogs at a concession stand upstairs on the fan-filled concourse, where the hair is long, the testosterone is thick and the dress code calls for black T-shirts celebrating this god of thunder (Iron Maiden) or that one (Metallica).

This is not a CD review or a TV series review … or even a band endorsement. This is not a plug for a video, though the setting for this interview was on the set of the video shoot for the song “We Are One”, a song which features Serj Tankian [System of a Down] on vocals and Buckethead on guitars. The song is from Buckethead’s new release Buckethead & Friends [Serjical Strike Records] and was selected for the soundtrack quite appropriately.

I was asked if I would like to come up to a cabin up in the San Bernardino Mountains, about 3 hours outside Los Angeles, to meet Buckethead and Tankian, get some photographs, and interview them. My answer to the friendly publicist was: "Is a frog’s ass watertight?"

Now, how was I going to ask Buckethead questions? The guy doesn’t talk to the media, directly anyway, but responds by using a puppet or writing his answers down on paper. How do you approach an artist with those kinds of challenges? How was I going to keep up with Serj if we got into a political discussion? I was already told that he would not answer any questions pertaining to his band, System of a Down.

"Vegas doesn't resonate well with me. I don't enjoy it much," says System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian in the plush backstage areas of the hard rock hotel/venue amid the bright lights of the desert town otherwise known as Sin City. "I have had some good times here," he continues, "but I'm not a big fan of the extra oxygen that's hot at you in casinos."

its no wonder System of A Down cant wait to get out of here, particularly since this is the last night of a 2 month tour, with all the anticipation of finally getting home for some much needed downtime. Later there will be a poolside after show party that will continue into the early hours in bassist Shavo Odadjian's large hotel suite, before all but drummer John Dolmayan( who lives in Vegas) head back to LA.


Before this however, Serj and Daron, have one last interview to do featuring questions ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Daron is in good cheer with his bong ever present, Serj is more wary - he's never been fond of trivial questions. But he soon gets into the spirit of it, and by the end he's laughing and joking, clearly relishing the chance to talk about something other than the new system album ...