System of a Down

System of a Down 

Members

• Serj Tankian - Vocalist & Keyboardist
• Daron Malakian - Guitar
• Shavo Odadjian - Bass
• John Dolmayan - Drums

Previous members

• Andy Khachaturian - Drums

System of a down, sometimes shortened to SOAD or System, is an Armenian-American heavy metal band from Glendale, California, formed in 1994. The band currently consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass, backing vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums).

The band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums, three of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and their song "B.Y.O.B." won the Best Hard Rock Performance of 2006. The group briefly disbanded in August 2006 and reunited in November 2010, embarking on a tour for the following three years. System of a Down has sold over 40 million records worldwide. 

Discography

1. System of a Down (30 June 1998)
2. Toxicity (4 September 2001)
3. Steal This Album! (26 November 2002)
4. Hypnotize (26 April 2005)
5. Mesmerize (27 September 2005)

Soil (1992–94)

Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School as children, although due to their eight-year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording studio. They formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. In 1994, after only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio left the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere.

Music videos

• '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)
• 'Aerials' from Toxicity (2002)
• 'Toxicity' from Toxicity (2002)
• 'Boom!' from Steal This Album! (2003)
• 'Cigaro' from Hypnotize (2005) (announced, yet to be released)
• 'B.Y.O.B.' from Mesmerize (2005) (announced, yet to be released)

System of a Down have relaunched their website - www.systemofadown.com. The revamped site will offer intriguing glimpses of the artwork for "Mezmerize/Hypnotize," much of which was designed and painted by Vartan Malakian, guitarist/producer Daron Malakian's father.

System of a Down wrote some thirty tracks for "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" and recorded them at producer Rick Rubin's Laurel Canyon studio between June and November of 2004.

  The album was produced by Rubin and Daron Malakian and mixed by Andy Wallace, who also mixed "Toxicity" and "Steal This Album!" The new songs are more complex, more progressive, more unorthodox, and more experimental than ever, while retaining the idiosyncratic, ironic and schizophrenic qualities that make System of a Down so distinctive. Topics include relationships, the evils of television and corporate mind control, the mysteries of life and death, and a surreal experience at a celebrity baseball game. Some of the song titles are "Radio Video," "Old School Hollywood," "Cigaro," "Lost in Hollywood," "Question," "Vicinity of Obscenity" and "Revenga." The decision to release the two discs six months apart was made simply to give fans time to get into and really live with the music from Disc One before plunging into Disc Two.

 The second installment, Hypnotize (2005), is inferior, and can't help sounding like a bunch of leftovers, although even leftovers are worth listening to when they are leftovers from good albums.