Band’s companion piece ‘Hypnotize’ basic, yet distinct

System of a Down

“Hypnotize” (American Recordings/Columbia) “““ 1/2

How could the musically uninhibited System of a Down possibly release a record that’s not utterly surprising? Only by making it a second collection of songs from the same studio sessions that produced its last one, the 1.5-million-selling “Mezmerize.”

Six months ago, that album moved the Los Angeles band’s idiosyncratic art-metal to a new level, with guitarist Daron Malakian flexing newfound muscle as a writer and singer. This companion piece sustains that standard while asserting a distinct identity.

“Hypnotize” has some of the circus-is-in-town surrealism that links System to the Frank Zappa avant-rock tradition, but overall it’s more of a fundamental rock album, a direction signaled by an opening fusillade of fearsome thrash-metal riffing.

Indeed, the entire album is streaked with apprehension and anger, peaking with “Holy Mountains,” a stately, epic centerpiece that mourns the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century. (Malakian and bandmate Serj Tankian are of Armenian descent.)

It’s a measure of the band’s tenacity and integrity that what seemed like an impenetrable foreign tongue when they introduced it seven years ago has become a universal language. It shows that you don’t have to dumb down to hit big.

Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times

Big & Rich

“Comin’ to Your City” (Warner Bros. Nashville) ““

The best thing about this duo’s 2004 debut album, “Horse of a Different Color,” was the outsider attitude it brought to the country music mainstream.

“Big” Kenny Alphin and John Rich rode in on the skirttails of Gretchen Wilson, their higher-profile pal in Nashville’s so-called “Muzik Mafia.” The upstart attitude remains on their sophomore release, but where Wilson showed real growth as a writer and singer on her second album, they’re stuck treading water.

The loopy opening track, “Freak Parade,” is followed by the raucous title song, a start that promises more than the rest of the album can deliver. They duo cast their lasso wide enough to rope in bits of hard rock, country funk and soul, but they work best when the calculated rowdiness settles down and they allow some human weakness and feeling in.

Mainstream country music can certainly benefit from a little attitude adjustment, but while maverick attitude is good, fresh content is better.

Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times

Wilco

“Kicking Television: Live In Chicago” (Nonesuch) “““

One of these days, Jeff Tweedy will collapse under the weight of his own self-importance. But not just yet.

“Kicking Television,” a double live CD recorded over four nights at the Vic Theatre in the band’s hometown of Chicago, will do nothing to harm Wilco’s status as one of the most revered of independent-spirited American rock bands.

Tweedy’s forays into experimental noisemaking on his band’s recent efforts “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and “A Ghost Is Born” – from which most of the material on “Kicking” is drawn – have been overpraised, as if the emotionally limited singer-songwriter was the closest thing this generation has to John Lennon or Kurt Cobain.

But while “Kicking” may not be the tour de force of a soul-searching genius, it does document a top-notch band bringing studio creations impressively to life.

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

Enya

“Amarantine” (Reprise) ““ 1/2

For nearly two decades, Enya has been serving the musical equivalent of rich comfort food to a bevy of grateful fans, and the Irish songbird clearly isn’t about to change her stripes.

Her latest collaboration with producer/arranger Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan offers more of the kind of soothing vocals, lush harmonies and New Age-y orchestrations that accommodate everything from deep contemplation to intrusive dental surgery.

“All things come/All things go,” Enya croons on “It’s In the Rain,” and I suppose that in times like these, there’s something reassuring about such sentiments.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today