UPDATE: A day after we published this, it turned out that frontman Serj Tankian has once again put to rest any rumors of the band releasing a new album soon. During an AMA on Reddit yesterday, Tankian answered a fan’s question about the talk of a new album coming soon by saying the following:
“No, that is not true. A quick scan of press online will show that we have not yet agreed on a timetable for another record due to its time commitments.”
Then the fan continued by writing the frontman, “Seriously I think everyone wants a new System Of A Down album. It’s been too long since the last one.”
Tankian then stated, “We really appreciate that, but we have to make a record when we think it’s time, not anyone else.”
Guess that just squashed all fans’ hopes, huh?
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Could System of a Down be working an a new album?
Well, that’s been the question being asked for a couple of month now, but thanks to a YouTube video posted online, this might be the proof needed to reassure fans that the band are not joking around.
During their one-off show in Los Angeles earlier this week at the Hollywood Bowl, drummer John Dolmayan was recorded shouting at the audience, “Next time we come back here, we’ll have a new fucking album.”
While the band haven’t exactly been hurrying to clarify or confirm this rumor, issues and differences within the band since had surfaced about what would become of the album following 2005’s Mesmerize/Hypnotize. In May, bassist Shavo Odadjian wrote a now-deleted Facebook post about how frontman, Serj Tankian, was holding them back. That added fuel that the band might be going their own route and even be searching for a new frontman to replace Tankian.
Of course, the band released a statement which said that Odadjian’s comment was the result of “a temporary state of bad judgment on his part alone.”
While Odadjian, feels the way that he does about the pace of the band making new music, Tankian says that he’s in no hurry to put out new music. “I can’t write a forced record,” he said while being interviewed by ArtistDirct back in June. “It’s like romancing someone at a time you don’t want to be romantic.”
“A new record requires three years. It’s not something I can do right now. When I can commit to a three-year album cycle, I’ll be down to do it,” he added.
When not with the band, Tankian has had a successful career as a solo artist releasing Jazz-iz-Christ and Orca earlier this year. Last year, he exercised his political activism muscle by joining forces with Rage Against the Machine guitarist, Tom Morello for the occupy Wall Street’s one-year anniversary.
As for System of a Down, they have another show on August 7 at Russia’s Kubana festival.
Talk Music To Me 