It’s been 15 years in the making and today System of a Down have delivered, unleashing two new songs that aim to bring attention to the crisis in their homeland of Armenia.
Released via Bandcamp, proceeds from the songs – which are titled ‘Protect the Land’ and ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’ – will be donated to the Armenia Fund, an organisation that provides humanitarian relief to the mostly ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan which became engulfed in conflict once again last month.
It has been 15 years since System of a Down’s last record, Hypnotize, with the band being at odds since as to how to proceed as a group, creatively. They seemingly put those differences aside in the name of this shared cause.
Interestingly, the band do differ when it comes to US politics. This year System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian blasted fans of the band who “love Trump”, calling them “hypocrites” and criticised the United States President Donald Trump for hiding out in a White House bunker as protests following the death of George Floyd took place outside the building.
Conversely, the band’s drummer John Dolmayan has previously voiced his support for Donald Trump, once even describing him as “the most attacked president in history and “the greatest friend to minorities”.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Tankian reiterated that the gravity of the situation in Armenia far outweighed any differences between bandmates.
“I’m not doing this as an artist for myself or for System of a Down or for any of the guys in the band; we’re all doing this for our people,” he said. “So this is not a creative decision, this is not a business decision. This is a decision of activism, and that takes precedence over all other things for us.”
‘Protect the Land’ and ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’ are available to download on System of a Down’s Bandcamp page. Listen below.
