System of a Down is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on June 30, 1998, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 2000. After the success of the band's following album, Toxicity (2001), System of a Down was certified platinum and has since gone double platinum. The album is generally considered nu metal and alternative metal, both of which would become staples for the band. Lyrical themes throughout the album vary, with many songs following a theme of being anti-war, but also has topics of genocide, religion, and brainwashing. "Suite-Pee" is a criticism of pedophilia within the Church and religious extremism. "Soil" is, according to guitarist Daron Malakian at a Lowlands show, "about death, and friends that die, and life that dies". "Mind" talks about government mind control, specifically mentioning CIA brainwashing in the album's liner notes. "P.L.U.C.K." is a song dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide, and is meant to be a criticism and denouncing of the Turkish Government. The cover artwork is from a 1928 anti-fascist poster designed by visual artist John Heartfield for the Communist Party of Germany. The text on the original poster is: "A hand has 5 fingers! With these 5 grab the enemy!" This slogan inspired part of the text contained on the back of the album: "The hand has five fingers, capable and powerful, with the