Finding a Grammar in System of a Down's Contrasts

A song is not automatically random because it contains many abrupt changes. If we listen for the relationships through which those changes return, a kind of grammar can emerge. One of my questions about System of a Down is how that grammar interacts with surprise.

Dense sound followed by open space, or a harsh vocal line followed by a different kind of singing, can be heard not only as separate sections but as events that change one another. That does not mean the same transition carries the same meaning in every song.

One listening exercise is to mark only the boundaries between sections. Where did the change happen? What hinted at it beforehand? What returned later? Structural observation and personal feeling can be written down separately.

For me, unpredictability becomes more interesting when it still has relationships. The surprise is not merely the arrival of a new sound; it is also the way that sound changes how I hear what came before. Looking for that relationship prevents the music from being reduced to a single adjective like intense.

Source: official reference.