World News – US – Listen to System of a Down’s First New Music in 15 years, ‘Protect the Land’ and ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’

As Azerbaijan wage war against the homeland of the ancestors of the band members, the band decided to fight back and use their music to raise funds for their compatriots

System of a Down took a war to record new music After seeing the country of Azerbaijan enter a conflict with Armenia in September, the musicians, all of Armenian descent, rushed to in the studio to record two new songs, « Protect the Land » and « Genocidal Humanoidz », to draw attention to the crisis in their ancestral homeland

The group will donate the proceeds from the songs, which come out on Friday, to help Armenians, and they are asking fans to donate to the Armenia Fund, which provides humanitarian aid to the region Both songs are available on the band’s Bandcamp page

Fifteen years have passed since the Grammy-winning alternative metal band released their latest album, Hypnotize When it was released it was an instant hit, the second of System’s two albums to debut at the number one in 2005 But despite their success, they haven’t been able to agree on a way forward since Their frontman, Serj Tankian, called for a more democratic writing process – guitarist Daron Malakian has almost everything written – but they could not reach a meeting of minds They have since toured together and remained friends, but internally the struggle for creative control seems insurmountable.

The group decided to put their differences aside last month after war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethno-Armenian Azerbaijani region that Armenians call « Artsakh » It covers around 1,700 square miles of land. mountainous terrain, and it has had a long and bloody history that has marked the people who live there A previous war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in a ceasefire and the Armenians took control of the region in 1994 Azerbaijan started another war last September after its president, Ilham Aliyev, was outraged by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s assertion last spring that Nagorno-Karabakh was entirely Armenian Russia, France and the United States each tried to negotiate ceasefires between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but none remained

Armenia, a country of about 3 million people, is far outnumbered by Azerbaijan, which has 10 million citizens, a stronger army and aid from the enemy Turkey Armenia’s long-standing since the Armenian genocide of 1915, propagated by the Ottoman Turks The Armenian prime minister, who received support from Russia, hinted that Azerbaijan had recruited mercenaries in Syria, although this latest country denies Human Rights Watch has claimed that Azerbaijan used banned weapons and cluster munitions in its combat (it claims that Armenia also used or supplied cluster munitions used in an attack), and the British Morning Star newspaper reported an Azerbaijani soldier who beheaded an Armenian soldier and taunted his family with The UN warned that attacks on citizens in the region could be considered war crimes

The group believes that Azerbaijan planned the timing of the attack to coincide with the news coverage focused on the US election and the response to Covid-19 And although System does not all share the same politics – Tankian has expressed support for Democrats and drummer John Dolmayan (singer’s brother-in-law) backs Trump – they have also decided to put these differences aside, as they believe the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis transcends politics American

« What I would like [Trump] to do is protect the interests of the United States but, at the same time, protect the values ​​of the United States and what we stand for, » Dolmayan told Rolling Stone « There is injustice We cannot come into conflict just for monetary reasons I understand that we have to think about the interest in the [US] going forward, but we have to walk and talk Don’t be not hypocrite « 

« This is horrible shit going on, » says bassist Shavo Odadjian « There’s nothing human about it They don’t say, ‘Oh, get out of our land We’ll be very polite to you They’re slaughtering people and doing all kinds of cowardly and disgusting things And it touches us all [in the group] « 

“I’ve been to Artsakh twice”, remembers Tankian “It’s just a beautiful countryside, and it’s really sad to see all of this destroyed right now and the people who have to move out People are just amazing out there They’re the old Armenians They’ve lived in this land since 500 BC They are very strong, beautiful and funny They are not afraid, man They’ve seen this before, but it’s really, really fucked up « 

System of a Down shows its Armenian pride in 2020 Clockwise from top left corner: Daron Malakian, John Dolmayan, Shavo Odadjian and Serj Tankian

Dolmayan remembers watching the war unfold and feeling sick “I had a lot of feelings of anger and helplessness, then I thought about how my ancestors must have felt during the genocide,” says he After years of disappointment with the state of System of a Down, he had come to terms with the fact that the band would never record together again. But the horrors he was seeing prompted him to pick up his phone at 10 p.m. on the first Sunday in October and contact his group mates.

« I texted the other three guys and said, ‘Regardless of your feelings for each other and the past, we have to put it all aside and go into the studio and create a song so that our people are drawing attention to the situation and galvanizing the forces of good in the world, «  » he recalls « And I had some pretty positive responses »

Odadjian was an easy yes He had watched the war reports and felt the same In fact he was about to send his own text when he got the drummer’s note

Tankian decided that bringing attention to the war was worth letting our guard down. « I’m not doing this as an artist for myself or for System of a Down or for any of the guys in the group; we are all doing this for our people, « he said. » So it’s not a creative decision, it’s not a business decision It’s a decision of activism, and that takes precedence over all other things for we « 

“If we don’t, there isn’t another great Armenian rock band doing it,” says Malakian “There aren’t many great Armenian celebrities who are going to do this. is kind of a duty We came together because our country needed us, not necessarily because we’re so motivated to do a whole new System of a Down song Our people needed us to do it « 

Malakian sent his bandmates “Protect the Land,” a heavily loaded anthem that he had booked for his other band’s upcoming album, Scars on Broadway, and the rest of System felt that reflected perfectly what they felt The track opens with a slow guitar riff and Malakian and Tankian harmonization lyrics that ask listeners what they would do if someone tried to push them out of their home. « Do you want to stay and take a stand? » they sadly ask « Would you stay with the gun in your hand? » They protect the earth « To bring him home, when they repeat these questions later, Malakian runs his hands over the neck of his guitar, mimicking the sound of bombs falling

The guitarist wrote the song about a year and a half ago after writing another song about the tensions around Artsakh titled “Lives” for his 2018 album Dictator “We used [‘Lives’] to raise funds to send first aid kits to Artsakh because I heard that soldiers and civilians need it, ”he said.“ This is how the subject of [“Protecting the earth ”] Occurred to me; people and Artsakh soldiers were on my mind « 

They cut the song a week after Dolmayan’s original lyrics, and Odadjian immediately began working on the video for the track in private, filming different generations of Armenian descendants while telling them he was making a documentary about the Armenian diaspora which spread across the globe after the genocide « I brought everyone of all ages », he said of the clip « We have babies, my two sons, the high priest of MOON, doctors, taxi drivers and soldiers in the video At the same time we have people in Armenia in Artsakh filming on the front lines of the ongoing war So the message is: “I know we are in the thousands kilometers, but we are alongside our troops and we defend this common cause as ArmeniansThe clip features footage of soldiers on the front lines, as well as shots of the group with projections of some of the footage Odadjian took superimposed on their faces, similar to the group’s « Toxicity » clip

The band manager thought « Protect the Land » captured the importance of the moment but urged them to record another heavier track to complement it Three or four years ago Malakian, Dolmayan and Odadjian got together for a jam session which produced several songs, but they dropped them when Tankian was not committing to an album. One of the most notable characters was the « Genocidal Humanoidz » written in Malakian, a fast punk number about fighting the devil. This time, the four members agreed to record the song Malakian sings, « The Persecution Ends Now, » halfway and cocks his guitar like a gun before the band whips in a whirlwind of black riffs. metal, and Tankian asks: « Guess who’s coming to dinner? Genocidal humanooooids » It’s a whole different vibe that captures the spasmodic unpredictability of the band’s best music

“The song was a really good fit [with ‘Protect the Land’]”, says Malakian “The original lyrics are pretty close to what we recorded. The original line [in“ Genocidal Humanoidz ”] was:“ Terrorists are coming , and they’re never gonna stop ”, so to adapt it, I changed it to“ The terrorists we’re fighting, and we’re never gonna stop ”And the word ‘humanoids’ came to me from the late manager of fight Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan He used to call the audience a bunch of humanoids, like a bunch of idiots I had to change the wording very little to make it work with the message we’re trying to ‘send now « 

Even though they hadn’t all been in the studio together for over a decade, the song tracking went surprisingly smooth and fast. A few days after deciding to record, each musician began to arrange their own part – Tankian developed his harmonies for “Protect the Land” while he was still in New Zealand, where he lives part time – and the singer flew to Los Angeles on October 11 to join everyone in the studio They finished following the cuts this week

“It was something that was more serious than any problem we’ve ever had with System,” says Odadjian “We had to put everything away and say,“ We ​​have to get together because when we talk after 15 years people will listen « People will be like, » Whoa, these guys are back? Why? »»

Each member of the group expressed fears that Azerbaijanis, who are predominantly Muslim, will see the war against Armenia, a Christian nation, as a holy war and that the conflict will degenerate into another genocide By drawing attention to the war, they hope their fans will contact their government officials and ask them to intervene. « Make your voice heard and talk about this injustice and say you would like to see Turkey and Azerbaijan punished », says Tankian « You would like to see the perpetrators punished It doesn’t take money or armies to do this, it It just takes economic pressure on these countries to back down because they are the aggressors « 

System of a Down also hopes to help humanitarian efforts in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh « We did this as a global diaspora and Armenian community, but we need help because our adversaries have oil and fuel. natural gas and they spent billions of dollars on their army, « singer says “We need financial help to take care of our people who are in bomb shelters in Artsakh and families whose children are out of school And there is an incredible peak [in the cases of Covid- 19] in Armenia, which is very dangerous and frightening. So it is a truly horrific humanitarian disaster that must be resolved « 

While Dolmayan is thrilled to have brought his band together for the cause, he says fans shouldn’t expect more music or a new album « If it were up to me, we would have a new album every three years « , he says » But things are not up to me I am at the mercy of my team, and even though I fought for many years with the band members, I have accepted that it is what it is We have five albums and [now] two songs We have accomplished a lot in our career If it ends there, so be it « 

Tankian, who put aside a solo EP, Elasticity, which he had planned to release this fall, has no plans to work on any new music with System or anyone else until. ‘to have the conflict resolved « I can’t think of anything [else] right now – neither my own music, nor System’s music, » he said « I’m focusing on what’s going on with the war and I’m praying for a ceasefire so that there can be negotiations I’m just focusing on this because it’s a life or death situation « 

But some of his band mates are more hopeful that System will pick up at some point in the future « I’m proud we did this », says Odadjian « I wish we could come in and do more Maybe be that it could lead to this, maybe it cannot I have always been optimistic, however « 

“I never say never”, says Malakian “I didn’t expect this I was ready to release my next Scars album This kind of thing happened out of the blue, so who knows If we don’t let’s not re-record, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and everyone will keep doing what they are doing But it was good to do that « He is mostly happy that the band members were able to overcome their problems long enough to the good of their ancestral homeland « I’m not a soldier, but I feel like I’m part of it, » he says « The way I’m going to contribute is through my songs »

System Of A Down, Armenia