System of a Down will drop a new album titled "Hypnotize/Mesmerize" in two different stages, according to the band's publicist.

The set's first disc, "Hypnotize," will be released in the first quarter of 2005, and "Mesmerize" will arrive about six months later, in late summer or early fall.

The band is currently laying vocal tracks for the set in a Los Angeles studio.

"There has been a great deal of upheaval, very troubling times for all of us over the past year or so, and that has brought forth a lot of emotional material," vocalist Serj Tankian said in a press release. "There's a good amount of social commentary in the new songs, as well as songs where we deal with love, with reminiscing, relationships, politics and funny experiences."

Guitarist Daron Malakian wrote most of the songs for the new album, which he is producing with Rick Rubin.

"When we started recording, we were focused on making every song the best it could be, to really give a thousand percent to every, single track," Malakian said in a statement. "Doing a two album set never entered into our thought process. But when we looked at all the songs we had and arbitrarily tried to choose 'the best' fourteen for one album, we realized we had two album's worth of really great songs, and that they all connected with each other. We didn't chase this idea, it chased us."

The band decided to release the two parts of the albums six months apart "to give fans time to get into and really live with the music from Disc 1 before plunging into Disc 2," according to a press release.

"Hypnotize/Mesmerize" will be the follow-up to System of a Down's multi-platinum 2001 release, "Toxicity," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart.