System of a Down wants listeners to get its new album no matter what, even if it means costing the band a few dollars.

Or so they say.

Steal This Album! arrives as a collection of tracks ditched from the recording of the band's last album, Toxicity, which now sees multi-platinum status.

Styled to look like a copied CD, the album sounds not at all like a compilation of random songs but like a well-worked, cohesive recording.

System of a Down has become the newest shape-shifters of rock music, where the only uniform style they hold to is their own torrid mess.

As expected, the band dances cleverly between a serious, collected metal and light-hearted humor on many of this album's tracks, while still managing to keep its political views apparent.

Some of these songs clearly appear as b-sides, however, such as the CD's opener "Chic 'N' Stu" where singer Serj Tankian laments about a pizza and all its wonderful toppings.

The 46-second "36" is simply an aural temper-tantrum with no purpose save providing an excuse for band members to test the limits of their amplifiers.

Several of the songs, most likely from the "maybe" list of the Toxicity sessions, show the band capturing its unique style. Matching hectic but still-focused riffs against the sometimes screaming, sometimes howling vocals sets System of a Down far apart from any other rock band. Tankian's voice could demolish any other metal vocalist worth half his weight in hairspray.

Among the tracks undeserving of their unreleased status, "Highway Song" shows the band's multi-tasking abilities.

Beginning with a hammering intro, the song crescendos to a powerful chorus steadily rolling well above the speed limit.

The CD's first single "Innervision" also possesses a similar strength.

The song pulsates with the combined forces of the group's four members.

The calculated guitar provided by Daron Malakian intertwines with Tankian's wail and its equally captivating harmonies.

System of a Down also proves it is not bound by crunchy distortion and intensity, as shown by the tracks "Ego Brain" and "Roulette."

The latter, possibly the most intriguing track on the album, takes the band in a direction listeners may not expect or know how to deal with -- acoustic guitars and strings.

The poignant song reveals the pure intensity within Tankian and his vocals.

As he sears the track singing, "I don't know how I feel when I'm around you," the music seems to morph around him.

The track contorts the soft guitars with the orchestrated backbone.

Beautiful and tragic, the track reveals the true power System of a Down can put forth without one single scream or tumultuous guitar.

No matter which method listeners choose to obtain this powerful and insanely deft CD, the end certainly justifies the mean.

And thankfully, the band agrees. Grade: B+