#protect the land
Even for just two songs, System of a Down making a return to the studio might be one of the most surprising things to happen in a year so wild that nothing is surprising anymore. Like most fans of the band who have gotten their hopes up for long-awaited commitment to new material by certain members coming out in the press to express why they think SOAD has a future while others would reaffirm that everything was still on hiatus, the repeatedly being jerked around (mostly by publications that make money off teasing the reunion of a band like SOAD) has only diminished hopes of new SOAD music actually materializing. After the boys went off to work on their own individual projects following the band’s last album in 2006, Hypnotize, only to briefly reconvene for a few shows in select years and seeing the constant public up-and-down of intra-band relations, I was as ready as probably a lot of fans were to pound the gavel on this band’s career. I was even gearing up to write a little retrospective piece on their legacy and sustained importance given the heated political climate that their music is tragically still all too relevant to today. But seemingly out of nowhere, they’re back.
For now. And the circumstances aren’t exactly anything to get elated about for any fan of the band. Those familiar with System of a Down are probably well aware of the Armenian cultural heritage the band wear on their sleeve, and the catalyst for these seemingly never-on-the-same-page band members to finally drop it all and come together has been the ramping up of human rights violations and war going on in their homeland. The band spell out on their newly formed Bandcamp page the brief details of the conflict with Turkey and ISIS that has poured more fuel onto the resuming of an attempted genocide of the Armenian people in their citing of the ongoing conflict as their purpose for creating these two songs, the proceeds of which are being directed entirely to the Armenia Fund.
The first song, “Protect the Land” is semi-folky, slow-burning alt metal anthem in tribute of the armed forced defending Artsakh, not really channeling the characteristic spitfire attitude of the band’s more fast-paced music, but falling more along the lines of more mid-paced songs like “Aerials”, “Hypnotize”, or “Mr. Jack”. The anthemic guitar line and the arm-in-arm harmony on the chorus between Daron and Serj on the song are pretty inspiring and the band do indeed sound committed and invested in this project, not just like they’re reviving a cash cow for selfish reasons. After 15 years of not hearing them though, you can hear the aging in Serj’s voice on this track. He doesn’t sound bad, but for him (and the rest of the band for that matter), the song is musically a bit of a scraping of the rust from off of the long-stagnant gears.
The second track, “Genocidal Humanoidz”, is a totally different story musically. At half the length of the preceding track and probably more than twice the speed, the second song captures the band’s more high-octane, thrashy side that they showcased on songs like “Cigaro”, “Attack”, “Bounce”, and “Jet Pilot”. The apparent aging between the two singers is also switched on this song, as the usually more manic Daron seems to drop to his lower register to deliver his relatively quick-paced lines during the verses to conserve his breath and probably protect his throat too, while Serj comes into full force on the choruses on this song that feels like it has their signature written on it a bit more than “Protect the Land”, which makes sense given the tone the band were clearly going for on that song. We get a pretty sick blast beat passage during the bridge here too that gives the song a helpful boost in energy as well that ends this little two-song release on a note of underlying anticipation for the band.
The question that will quickly be on every fan’s mind after digesting this really small bite of new music is inevitably, “What’s next?”. Like I said, it took a war in their homeland to abruptly bring these guys back together after a decade and a half of unencouraging squabbling, and I doubt that just forcibly getting back into the studio, and briefly so, is going to make go away whatever problems where keeping them out of the studio in the first place. Maybe this has given them new perspective and some time to mend, but I wouldn’t take this as any indication or guarantee that there’s going to be anything else in the works in the near future. I will maintain my baseline dosage of hopium for now; I’m not gonna get my hopes up for a new album coming down the pipeline any time soon. That being said, this two-song offering sounds like a pretty good warm-up for the band, one that they sound pretty loosened up by the blast-beat-driven end of, and I would of course welcome with open arms any new music from these guys, be it singles or albums. For now, love and support to the people of Artsakh and Armenia, and thank you System of a Down.
