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System Of A Down: Armenian Ancestry

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System Of A Down (S.O.A.D or simply System) is an alternative metal from Los Angeles, CA that was formed in the year 1995. The group is integrated by Serj Tankian, who is the lead singer but sometimes also plays the keyboards and guitar; Daron Malakian the guitarist and vocals, John Dolmayan the drummer and Shavo Odadjian the bassist. These four guys are coincidentally all from Armenian fathers eradicated in the US. SOAD is widely recognized especially for their lyrics against the social and political system of the US and the world.

System is also part of the “Axis of Justice” that is a non profit association formed by Tankian and Tom Morello (from Audioslave). The main goal of this organization is to attract new musicians, political organizations or fans to fight against the injustice social together. The members of SOAD usually uses West Asian instruments in their songs. The style of their music has been influenced by several genres such as: Armenian Folk, heavy metal, punk rock and others.

By the year 1998 the band launched their debut record self titled. This record opened their successful career. Suddenly they participated in Ozzfest and toured with other bands like Incubus and Fear Factory. By 2001, they released their second record entitled “Toxicity” that contains one of their numerous hit singles called “Chop Suey” which clearly protests against the terrorist attacks of September 11. This album sold 6 million copies around the world and became in the #1 American and Canadian Charts and then won multi-platinum certification.

“Steal This Album” is their third compilation which was released in the year 2002. A curious aspect of this record is that is was released with 50,000 different CD designs that were designed each one by all the members of the band. The videos for the singles “Innervision” and “Boom” were produced by the director Michael Moore as a protest against the war in Iraq.

The past year System Of A Down released two discs. It is a double album but that was launched in different months. The first named “Mezmerize” was released in May and the second part entitled “Hypnotize” was launched in November. These albums also reached the #1 position in the US, Canada and other countries of the world and System with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and DMX are the only artists to ever have two #1 studio records in the same year. The band is planning finish the next album this year or during the next one.



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