System Of A Down Surprise Release First New Music In 15 Years

Keavin Wiggins | 11-06-2020

System of a Down have released their first new music in 15 years. The band has shared two new tracks and will be donating royalties from Bandcamp sales to the Armenia Fund.

The new tracks, "Protect The Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz," were written and produced by Daron Malakian and are being released as the band members' response to recent conflict "between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, the latter aided by Turkey," that resulted in what System of a Down have called "unwarranted surprise attacks and bombings of civilians", the band said in the announcement.

John Dolmayan explained that after the conflict erupted, he reached out to his bandmates, "I texted, 'no matter how we feel about each other, no matter what issues linger from the past, we need to put them aside because this is bigger than System Of A Down and bigger than all of us.....we need to do something to support our people.'"

Serj Tankian added, "The aggression and injustice being perpetrated against the Armenian people in Artsakh and Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey is a human rights violation and a war crime.

"All of us in System realize this is an existential battle for our people, so this is very personal for us. What we need right now is for the world to put politics aside and support Armenia by sanctioning Turkey and Azerbaijan and recognizing Artsakh."

Both songs are available at all major DSP. Fans can purchase the tracks here and can watch the video for "Protect The Land" below: