Like a lot of people this week, the event's of 9/11 have been looming in my thoughts. During this time there is always one album that I turn to that has that power to transport me back to how I felt back then which is System of A Down's Toxicity. People forget this, but that album was released on 9/11/01 and through it's chaotic structure and political themes seemed to define a post 9/11 America in a powerful way that still holds up for me 17 years later.
No track hits on those feeling quite in the same way as Aerials. In context of the album, it pulls the themes of the album together pretty perfectly with lyrics that describe the mistaken views of individuality and isolationism instead functioning as a call to understanding for unity and the belief that you are part of something greater, a big circle of life. It is something that could be corny in a lesser musician's hands, but post-9/11 it felt unifying in my circle of friends and an ominous warning of what could come. All these years later, it still has that effect on me.