System of a Down's Mezmerize/Hypnotize sessions (partially lost unreleased music; 2005)

Tracklist for the sessions.

Status: Partially Lost

Mezmerize and Hypnotize were the 4th and 5th albums released by Armenian-American nu metal band System of a Down and produced by Rick Rubin. it was released as a double album, with Mezmerize dropping on May 17th, 2005, and Hypnotize on November 22nd, 2005. The two albums were a critical and commercial success, with Mezmerize's second track, B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs), winning a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. Other singles released from the album include Question! (Mezmerize), Hypnotize (title track), and Lonely Day.

Background

Even though they were released separately, the two albums were recorded in the same session at The Mansion in Los Angeles. Compared to past albums, guitarist Daron Malakian had a larger part in songwriting, composure, and lyrics.

Unreleased/Lost Recordings

The tracklist, as stated by drummed John Dolmayan, was written on the cover of one of his floor tom drums. As of March 11th, 2022, the cover is hung up on his wall in his Los Angeles home. The track list is as follows:

Track #	Track Name	Status	Notes
1	War that No One Won	Partially Lost	Performed at a show at an unknown time. Also spoken as a poem on an MTV ad from 2005-06. It was theorized that it was likely was replaced by Soldier Side - Intro or meant to be the first track on Hypnotize. The origins of the poem can go back all the way to 2000 where the lyric "Pretending that we see doesn't give us (the) sight/ Pretending that we live doesn't make us alive" can be heard in a collaboration between pioneering metal band Black Sabbath's guitarist Tony Iommi titled "Patterns" a little after the three minute mark. In a 2004 concert for Axis of Justice (a group of rock and metal musicians bringing together musicians and fans to fight for social justice), Serj repeats the poem on "Improvisational Noise." This can also be seen on the tracklist for the DVD for the event. It is also allegedly in Serj's poetry book, Cool Gardens, released in 2002, which is shown by the cover in the MTV commercial. The lyrics are as follows: War that no one won, won, won, won. War that no one won, won, won, won. They broke into Fort Knox and stole the time of the shinning dream of a nation, Leaving behind the unmistakable black residue of dripping oil Our pain bodies everywhere! Everywhere where we don't stare Spare us all your dubious care, Pretending that you're being fair! Pretending that we see does not give us sight! Pretending that we live does not make us alive! War that no one won! War that no one won, won, won, won, won, won, won, won, won
2	Soldier's Side (Soldier Side)	Found
3	Magic Babies	Lost
4	Sad Statue of Liberty (Sad Statue)	Found
5	Stealing Society	Found
6	Criminal Nation	Lost	The rights registry for the song can be viewed here.
7	She's Like Heroin	Found
8	Violent Pornography	Found
9	Religious People	Lost	The rights registry for the song can be viewed here.
10	This Coke Feels... (This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song)	Found
11	Lonely Day	Found
12	Viscinity of Obscenity	Found
13	Annoying Car Alarm	Lost
14	Blowing Bubbles	Lost
15	174 (Shavo)	Lost	The note for "Shavo" at the end of the tracks name notes that it was likely involved some way with the band's bassist Shavo Odadjian. The registry for the rights of the song can be viewed here. A reddit comment claims that Shavo used a special 12 string bass to record this track.
16	Antibiotics	Lost
17	Radio/Video	Found
18	Revenga	Found
19	Citadel in the Sky ("Citadel")	Partially Found	Supposedly also played during a performance of War? in 2011. However, drummer John Dolmayan has stated in an Instagram DM with a fan that "I don't even remember citadels at all" suggesting this might not be the truth. So, it could just be a scrapped song as next to it on the tracklist it says "incomplete".
20	Hypnoteyes (Hypnotize)	Found
21	BYOB	Found
22	Cherades/Charades (The Charade)	Partially Found	Originally performed first at the Axis of Justice Benefit Concert. Serj states; "We never actually finished it with Soad [System of a Down] as I didn't like the way it was coming out so I did it first instead with an orchestra and later as a rock version with the FCC." The FCC is the name for a band he plays some of his live music with. In 2010, the rock version was released by Serj as "The Charade."
23	Kill Rock 'N' Roll	Found
24	Cigaro	Found
25	Love is a Blood Sucking Bastard	Lost
26	Question (Question!)	Found
27	Nun With A Gun	Lost	The rights for a song called "New With a Gun" can be found here. It isn't confirmed that is this the same song but there is a large chance there is.
28	Hezze	Partially Lost	"Hezze" was originally supposed to open Hypnotize, but was replaced with "Attack", as the band wanted to open the record with a fast-paced song. There is no released studio version, however the song has been performed numerous times by the band, many of which have the song tagged onto another of the band's songs, "Mr. Jack." The most recent instance of the song being played live is at the Rock Am Ring Festival in 2017. In an MTV article from 2005, guitarist Daron Malakian refers to it as an instrumental. The article also states that the track is "based on Middle Eastern music but also includes rock and disco elements." The fact that there was an article mentioning it means that it was likely scrapped at the last minute. The earliest found instance of Hezze being performed is at Ozzfest 2002. The registry for the rights of the song can be viewed here.
29	Elect the Dead	Partially Found	Used as the title track on vocalist Serj Tankian's album "Elect the Dead." Theorized to have had a heavy rewriting to fit the mood of that album.
30	U.S.F.I.G. (U-Fig)	Found
31	Old School Hollywood	Found
32	նակ երրով	Unknown	When scanned in Google Lens, it translates from Armenian to English, saying "by mistake." This is supported by the track number being crossed out. However, many people theorize this could be Holy Mountains, as it is the only track left out from these recordings. Additionally, a reddit comment from a user who claims to be able to speak and translate Armenian says that it translates to "By letter."
33	Attack	Found
34	Trust in Hollywood (Lost in Hollywood)	Found
35	Tentative	Found
36	Dreaming	Found

Interestingly, there are 3 songs released on the albums that were not from these sessions. Those being Soldier Side - Intro, U-Fig, and Holy Mountains. It is likely that Soldier Side - Intro derived itself from what would become Soldier Side. However, U-Fig and Holy Mountains could just be one of the unreleased songs. There has not been an human Armenian translator to translate track number 32, so it is possible that could be one of them.

Underneath Note

The note underneath the tracklist reads as follows:

To Beno, ("Beno" being their manager, David "Beno" Benveniste)

My brother,

We finally finished!

Thought you'd like this piece of our history; I made it while we recorded (every step of the way at least for drums) It's been a hard road but it's been worth it. I'm more proud of what we've achieved more than anything we've ever done. Thanks for keeping it together.

Love, John Dolmayan

Release Efforts

There have been efforts by fans over the past decade and a half to release these tracks.

In 2012, during an interview Serj states that he had "about four or five unreleased tracks that we finished before. and that he "would be very open to releasing, like, a greatest-hits record with a few unreleased tracks." He also stated that "we haven't really discussed it, so I don't wanna make a promise."

In 2019, a petition by George "ZombieRoca" Roca was started on Change.org to release these tracks. It had considerable media coverage, with articles written by Loudwire and Metal Injection. On vocalist Serj Tankian's Patreon-member only Discord server, Roca reached out to Serj asking if he has seen the petition. Serj responded stating that he is "all for it" and needed to "convince everyone else." When asked by a fan on Instagram DM, drummer John Dolmayan said "I don't think it represents where we've come so unless it was an anthology [like a greatest hits album] I would rather not see it released." Bassist Shavo Odadjian has said in a podcast "If they were not good then, why would I release all of them on one full record, like after 15 years of no music, we're gonna drop you our not even b-sides? Our throwaways? That's like a career killer!" Nothing came out of this release effort.