The metal legends are marking a quarter-century of beautiful musical chaos with a limited Amber Smoke pressing, a bonus seven-inch single and a long-overdue tracklisting correction.
Stop what youโre doing, put down the energy drink and hide the bank card โ System Of A Down have just given vinyl collectors another reason to empty their wallets. ๐ธ
The Armenian-American metal giants are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their monumental second album, Toxicity, with a gorgeous limited-edition Amber Smoke vinyl pressing.
Released on 4 September 2001, Toxicity remains one of the most distinctive, unpredictable and downright brilliant metal albums of the 21st century. It delivered enormous tracks including โChop Suey!โ, โAerialsโ, โPrison Songโ, โDeer Danceโ and the thunderous title track.
Now the whole glorious beast is being rolled out again โ and this anniversary edition comes with a few tasty extras.
๐ Amber Smoke, Rare Tracks And Collector Chaos
The centrepiece of the anniversary package is the full Toxicity album pressed onto Amber Smoke vinyl.
It looks absolutely lush, mun. Somewhere between molten metal, festival cider and something youโd probably find bubbling inside Serj Tankianโs laboratory.
However, the biggest attraction could be the additional seven-inch single containing โJohnnyโ.
The wonderfully strange track originally appeared as a bonus song on selected international physical editions released in 2001. That made it considerably harder to find than the standard album material, particularly for anyone who discovered System Of A Down during the streaming era.
For this new edition, โJohnnyโ gets its own piece of vinyl, while the B-side features a custom etched โ25โ anniversary design.
There is also a custom double-sided poster included inside the package, giving collectors something else to frame, admire or accidentally damage while trying to unfold it after three beers.
๐ต The Mysterious โArtoโ Track Finally Gets Its Proper Name
The anniversary release also corrects a fascinating piece of Toxicity history.
For years, the albumโs closing piece was identified as โArtoโ. The updated packaging now lists it under its proper title, โDer Voghormiaโ.
โDer Voghormiaโ is an Armenian spiritual hymn whose title translates as โLord Have Mercyโ. The piece is traditionally performed during moments of grief and remembrance, including commemorations for the estimated 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives during the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
System Of A Down have always carried their Armenian heritage proudly through their music, activism and identity. Correcting the title gives this deeply meaningful piece the recognition and cultural context it deserves.
That alone makes this considerably more significant than your standard coloured-vinyl reissue.
๐ฟ Toxicity 25th Anniversary Tracklist
Side A
- Prison Song
- Needles
- Deer Dance
- Jet Pilot
- X
- Chop Suey!
- Bounce
- Forest
Side B
- ATWA
- Science
- Shimmy
- Toxicity
- Psycho
- Aerials
- Der Voghormia
โJohnnyโ Seven-Inch Single
Side A
- Johnny
Side B
Custom โ25โ anniversary etching
๐ค The Album That Changed Everything
Following System Of A Downโs explosive self-titled debut in 1998 was never going to be easy.
Second albums can make or break a band. In Systemโs case, they made one that smashed the door off its hinges, set fire to the hallway and started shouting about prison reform.
Produced by Rick Rubin, Toxicity took the bandโs already chaotic sound and transformed it into something sharper, heavier and somehow even more unpredictable.
Serj Tankian could switch from a gentle whisper to an apocalyptic roar in seconds. Daron Malakian delivered riffs that sounded enormous without ever becoming predictable. Bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan held the whole mad contraption together while the music changed direction like a festival punter desperately searching for the toilets.
Then came โChop Suey!โ.
Released shortly before the album, the single became System Of A Downโs first song to enter the US Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the UK Top 20 and earned the band a Grammy nomination.
Despite having an unconventional structure, dramatic vocal changes and lyrics that caused plenty of debate, โChop Suey!โ became one of the defining rock and metal songs of its generation.
By May 2026, the track had reportedly smashed through two billion streams on Spotify. Not bad for a song that sounds like four different tunes having a punch-up in a kebab shop.
๐ฅ A Genuine Metal Landmark
Toxicity debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and went on to achieve an estimated 15 million sales worldwide.
It has been certified seven-times platinum in the United States and twice platinum here in the UK โ but statistics only tell part of the story.
The albumโs real power comes from the way it refuses to sit still.
One minute youโre being flattened by the political fury of โPrison Songโ. The next, youโre bouncing around to an absurd pogo-stick anthem. Then โAerialsโ arrives and turns the whole thing into something haunting, enormous and strangely beautiful.
Its lyrics tackled prisons, environmental destruction, protest, war, propaganda and American foreign policy, while the music drew upon metal, punk, alternative rock and Armenian folk traditions.
Plenty of bands have tried to copy parts of that formula. Nobody has ever truly sounded like System Of A Down.
๐ Price And Release Date
The exclusive Amber Smoke edition is available to pre-order for ยฃ39.99.
Its expected release date is 20 November 2026, with the product shipping from the UK. As the pressing is being advertised as limited, fans may want to move quickly before copies disappear and mysteriously reappear online for three times the price.
Vinyl flippers โ the natural enemy of the skint metalhead. ๐
๐ The Riff Report Verdict
Some anniversary editions offer little more than a different sticker and another excuse to sell fans the same record again.
This one has a bit more meat on the bone.
Youโre getting an exclusive Amber Smoke pressing, the rare โJohnnyโ bonus track on a separate seven-inch single, a custom etched B-side, a double-sided poster and corrected packaging that restores the proper identity of โDer Voghormiaโ.
Most importantly, it celebrates an album that still sounds completely fearless 25 years later.
Toxicity remains furious, funny, political, emotional, deeply unusual and packed with enough monstrous riffs to level a small Welsh village.
A quarter of a century later, System Of A Downโs masterpiece has lost none of its power.
Everybodyโs going to the record storeโฆ have a real good time. ๐ค๐ฅ
Would you add this Amber Smoke edition to your collection, or is ยฃ39.99 too much for another vinyl reissue? Let us know, butt!
