8-Album Mind: I've Already Died

System of a Down - Toxicity ♠♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Steal This Album! ♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Mesmerize ♠♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Hypnotize ♠♠♠♠♠
Tenacious D - Tenacious D ♠♠♠
Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny ♠♠♠♠
Terror - Always the Hard Way ♠♠♠♠
Metallica - Death Magnetic ♠♠♠♠

Let me get this out of the way first: I was so god-damn psyched about the new Metallica album, it's nothing short of amazing that I didn't crap my pants while waiting for 10AM to come and I could buy the album. Despite that, I'm not doing a review tonight and I'm just going to say this: BUY IT.

System of a Down is a band I greatly admire and love, but it hasn't been easy; in 2005, Casey Chaos, the man behind AMEN, announced that he was angry that he didn't get a writing credit on the album for writing the Grammy-Winning song "B.Y.O.B." Being a major fan of Casey, as well as wanting to make sure he received the royalties he was due (which, at the time, he wasn't)... well, it was hard. I found out late 2005, after I had seen them live and right after "Hypnotize" came out. I decided to do what I could to not support SOAD... at least until they did the right thing. They did, and it's history, but Scars of Broadway... no, I can't listen to it. That was Casey's project, and I wouldn't feel right.

But that aside, Mesmerize/Hypnotize is THE GREATEST Double-album in this decade! PERIOD! Normally the second disc kills an album, but it worked well here! Meanwhile, Toxicity is a classic, period, and I'm glad to see it still holds up great. Same with "Steal This Album!"