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System of a Down is a heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, USA consisting of Serj Tankian (vocals, keyboards), John Dolmayan (drums), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals) and Shavo Odadjian (bass). All four members are of Armenian ancestry, and some of their songs are about Armenian history and politics.
History, style and influences
Their diverse instrumentals range from baritone electric guitars, electric mandolins, sitars, 12-string classical guitars to many other East Asian instruments. Their main influence is noticeably the heavy metal veterans Black Sabbath and Slayer, but they have many other musical influences such as jazz, fusion, Armenian folk music, classic rock, blues and industrial metal.
Guitarist Daron Malakian was quoted in the magazine Guitar World as saying that he was glad that System of a Down had not slipped into the nu metal genre. But there have been debates among fans regarding their categorization as nu metal. Those in favor of System not being nu metal point out that they have not included rap in any of their songs, a typical characteristic of nu metal, but instead use occasional screeches, screams and growls that are typical of death metal. Another typical component of nu metal, the turntable, is not part of the band's repertoire. People supporting that System of a Down is nu-metal, state that guitar solos rarely appear in their songs, they have the typical nu metal song structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus) and they have downtuned guitars. The debate seems far from over.
The band enjoyed moderate success with their first singles, Sugar and Spiders, off their debut album System of a Down. However, their big break came from their sophomore effort, Toxicity, which debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually going multi-platnium. The album also has the dubious distinction of being the #1 album in America on the week of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Their first big hit was the controversial "Chop Suey!", released in the late summer of 2001. The title comes from a poem of Father Armeni, who wrote about Armenia after the genocide of 1915. He called the Armenian land a chop suey and asked God why have you forsaken me in your eyes. Father Armeni also said that in Armenia a self righteous suicide has taken place. The song can also be attributed as a tribute to the late lead vocalist for Snot, Lynn Strait. System of a Down received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with their hits, Chop Suey!, Toxicity, Aerials, off their second album, Toxicity, and Innervision off their third album, Steal This Album!.
Their third album, containing songs from the Toxicity recording session, was released as "Steal This Album!" because early recordings of most of the songs had leaked out onto the Internet. There are four different designs of the album available. One version of the CD resembles a CD Recordable that was labeled with a felt-tip marker.
in 2004, the band recorded two brand new albums for release in 2005 that will be released 6 months apart from each other. They are Hypnotize and Mesmerize. Mesmerize will be released on April 26th.
Discography
- System of a Down (30 June 1998)
- Toxicity (4 September 2001)
- Steal This Album! (26 November 2002)
- Hypnotize (26 April, 2005)
- Mesmerize (27 September, 2005)
Music videos
Singles
- "Sugar" from System of a Down (1998)
- "Spiders" from System of a Down (1999)
- "War" from System Of A Down (2000)
- "Chop Suey!" from Toxicity (2001)
- "Toxicity" from Toxicity (2002)
- "Aerials" from Toxicity (2002)
- "Psycho" from Toxicity (2002)
- "Innervision" from Steal This Album! (2002)
- "Boom!" from Steal This Album! (2003)
- "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" from Steal This Album! (2003)
- "Cigaro" from Hypnotize (2005)
Members
Previous members
- Andy Khachaturian - Drums
External links
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