System of a Down Album Covers

As we had to create an album cover for one of our ancillary tasks, it was important to look closely at the band's album covers that we were making a song for. System of a Down released 5 albums between 1998 & 2005, below i have made a small picture to show the album covers of System of a Down:

As you can see, System began with simpler album covers before moving onto more creative ones such as Mezmerize & Hypnotize. This was becuase the band evolved over time becomming a 'softer' band than they used to be, still heavy but not as heavy as the days of 1998.

System of a Down (self titled):The cover artwork is from a poster designed by the artist John Heartfield for Communist Party of Germany during the Third Reich. The text in the original poster is: "5 fingers has a hand! With these 5 grab the enemy!" This slogan inspired part of the text contained in the back of the System of a Down album: "The hand has five fingers, capable and powerful, with the ability to destroy as well as create". Later, it is written in bold letters: "Open your eyes, open your mouths, close your hands and make a fist".

Toxicity: It is the only System of a Down album not to feature the Parental Advisory label, with only minor profanities. However, a limited edition of the album containing a bonus CD with behind the scenes footage of the making of the album does feature the Parental Advisory label, while a different limited edition containing a DVD with the "Toxicity" music video and live footage also does not feature the label.

Steal This Album:The album title is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's book Steal This Book, which is regarded as a classic example of counterculture literature.The packaging for this album is quite unusual. The album comes in a normal CD jewel case without a booklet, only the CD. On the CD and the back of the case, it looks like it has been written on with a black permanent marker pen, in faux-bootleg style to make it look like it has been pirated.

Mezmerize:The album debuted at number one in at least twelve countries, including the US Billboard 200, and has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. The album has sold over 6 million copies worldwide since its release. The hit single B.Y.O.B. won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Hypnotize:The album opened at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 320,000 copies on November 22, 2005. The album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA on December 13, 2005. Both this album and Mezmerize were painted by guitarist Daron Malikan's father Vartan.