Hubris. It's been the downfall of many a band. When it starts to be displayed by a band more known for its nu-metal stylings and eccentricity, you really have to start worrying. Which is why "Hypnotize" is such a refreshing surprise, not only is it a nu-metal album that isn't afraid to be ambitious, it actually manages to achieve a lot of the things that it sets out to do.

"Hypnotize", of course, is the companion album to "Mezmerize which was released earlier this year. Apart from having entirely too many letter "z"s in the title, both albums are intended to be taken as a single work, which may annoy those of us who are not used to having to shell out for two separate pieces of what is essentially the same album. I mean, can you imagine that "The Wall" or "Mellon-Collie and the Infinite Sadness" being sold in two pieces, for double the amount? There would have been rioting in the streets.

It's not even like these two discs are the equal of those great double albums from years gone by. Indeed, there are some serious problems with the "Hypnotize" portion of the double that drag it down in parts, making it not quite the album that it’s the other was. Central to this is a lack of new ideas - it sounds like most of the fresh concepts were used six months ago, and there is a worrying presence of a significant number of filler tracks. Songs like the monotonous U-Fig and the lyrically woeful title track probably shouldn't have even been recorded, let alone being released on an album.

Even less forgivable, for some reason that I just can't explain, Serj Tankian seems to be taking a back seat to Daron Malakian when it comes to vocals. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but Tankian has one of the best voices in modern heavy metal, and it's a crime every time he shuts his mouth. Not that Malakian is a particularly bad vocalist himself, but his thin, slightly whiny voice is not really suited for the sort of music delivered here.

With the bad out of the way though, there is some definite good here. Not only does the band tackle ugly subjects (The Armenian Genocide) with ugly songs, but they also don't forget to turn the noise up and cause some destruction. Holy Mountains is a very taut piece of no-nonsense metal that really hits the spot, and Soldier Side is a blistering finish to the album, full of barely restrained aggression and menace.

Like most double albums, Mezmerize/Hypnotize would probably benefit from being merged into a single disc. Certainly, there's enough filler in there that can be cut away without reducing any of the impact of the good songs, and with some intelligent sequencing this could have been made into a devastatingly good single-disc album. Even so, you've really got to admire the band for having the courage to try and put something a bit challenging together. I hope that next time around they'll manage to hit the mark more often than they miss it here.