Timing Is Everything  Overall, Toxicityis flat-out funny, its
intense energy directed diffusely outward, rather than at some
target, human or otherwise. Tankian hoots and hollers, preens
like Freddie Mercury, pomps like Maynard from Tool, and, when
all else fails, babbles like a little kid on a long car trip.
Despite the mysterious Middle Eastern timbres, many of these
tunes register as schoolyard sing-alongs. Toxicity's most
charmingly stupid song (and the one that, not coincidentally,
sounds like Primus) is "Bounce," a song about jumping around,
wherein Tankian or someone else yells the word pogo over and
over again. Toxicity's most stupidly stupid song is "Psycho,"
which makes fun of groupies who—wow!—do cocaine, and even it
sounds like the sort of repetitive cycle kids never tire of.
But that's the thing about kids—what's in their heads tends to
come out of their mouths. For adults, it's harder. Especially in
times when expression seems futile, how do you deal with the
noise in your head? You find comfor