Biography
System of a Down is a metal group that gathered in the American town of Glendale. By 2019, several albums who became platinum due to high sales volumes were on the account of musicians. The team managed to gain popularity not only in the United States, but also in many other countries.It is noteworthy that almost all team members are Armenians by nationality. Perhaps this is what affected the fact that the group had an active political and social position. Critical texts performed by artists are combined with the music of different directions from punk rock to Hevi-Metal and Armenian folk.
The history of creation and composition
System of a Down formed thanks to the acquaintance of two talented young people - Serzh Tankyan and Daron Malacian. The boys studied together at school and were fond of music. They were participants in improvised musical groups and, so it happened that they had one rehearsal base.
The origin of the guys has become one of the reasons for the origin of a strong friendship. Common interests and joint pastime were accompanied by the fact that in the 1993 young people created their own team and called it SOIL.
The third participant of the team was Shavarsh Odagyan, with whom the guys were also studied in the same school. Shavarsh became the starting team manager. In addition, he was a bassist of a local musical group. The position of the drummer later occupied Andy Khachaturian. So began the history of the creation of the legendary team.
In 1997, its composition has undergone changes. Khachaturian left the team due to disagreements inside it. John Dolmayan became drummer. And Shavarsh began to spend all the time with the team, fully retrained to the System of A DOWN bass player. This name was invented by musicians for their group. It was inspired by one of the social poems belonging to the authorship of Malacian.
Music
The debut performance of the team took place in Hollywood at the Roxy Club. The public and critics took her friendly, so the doors of several scenes immediately opened before beginner artists. They became participants in mass events and attracted the attention of listeners and producers. Demo-recording team containing only 3 compositions was transferred from listeners to listeners in the United States, and then somehow got abroad. So about System of A Down learned in Europe and even in remote states like New Zealand.One of the team's speeches has become a fateful, because it was present the producer of American Recordings Label Rick Rubin. He was under a deep impression of the quality of the sound of the team and the vocal of Solist Serzh Serzh Tankian. Acquaintance with the group turned into cooperation: the artists concluded a contract. Already a year later, the recording studio released the first album System of A Down.
Behind the release followed concerts and tour. Artists are lucky to perform on the same stage with such famous teams like Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Black Sabbath, Slayer and others. Among the prestigious events invited participants of which the musicians became, was the Ozzfest festival.
The popularity of the team grew rapidly. In just 3 years, the group managed to rally around himself fans and arrange critics. Artists have succeeded, and consolidated him helped the second album called "Toxicity". The plate was sold to a great circulation and in a short time received the status of platinum. Singles from the disk were leading in the charts.
The presentation of the record was overshadowed by the fact that the team prepared 30 tracks that were stolen by pirates and distributed on the Internet until the release of the release. I had to go out of the situation, making a remake of several compositions.
Artists were not afraid to experiment with the sound of various musical instruments, so the album was unusual. So, for example, in the song "Chop Suey!" Cello sounds. In the record of several songs, a friend of soloist was attended by a multi-instrumentalist Arto Tankboyjan.
The third plate of the group received the calling name "Steal This Album!". On the record there were 16 songs created by the musicians from 1995 to 2001. During this period, the popularity of System of A Down has become an exemplary. This allowed the artists to openly express their point of view and have an active public position. The musicians did not just become participants in campaigns, but even launched on the radio show about politics and created a charitable social organization called Axis of Justice.
System of a Down supported the strikes of the supermarkets, giving a concert in 2003, and Tankian with Takoyjian recorded the SERART joint plate at Serrian Studio Serjical Strike. The album saw the light in 2003. Darurov Malakian by that time organized his own label and called it eaturmusic. The project was aimed at finding young talents and help them in development.
In 2005, the discography of the group was replenished with the name of the new plate "Mezmerize / hypnoTize". It included 2 parts. The first came out in the spring, and the second in the fall. To the surprise of fans, on this album was recorded the usual voice of Solist Tankian. Damarist acted as a vocalist. The presentation of the disc followed tour of the United States, which took place in 2007. Returning from a long trip, the musicians decided to take a little break to try forces in other projects.
Fans were upset by this news, as they considered it a tailed manifesto decay. But after 4 years, System of a Down fully went on stage to give the European tour. The first concert was held in Canada in May 2011. Tours included 22 live performances, the final took place in Russia. The concert in Moscow became the first event of the group for Russian fans. Already in the summer of 2012, the team visited North America, speaking together with Deftones.
A year later, System Of A Down was the chadliners of the festival Kubana. After another 2 years, the musicians again visited Russia within the Wake Up the Souls tour. Immediately after that, they gave a charitable concert on the Republic Square in Yerevan. The artists declared plans for the release of a new album and planned his release in 2017, but the presentation did not take place. But the musicians again visited the performance in Moscow.
The genre of music in which System of A DOWN works is difficult to characterize in one word. Lyrical ballads in their work are combined with severe guitar reefs and shock sessions. In the texts there is a criticism of the political system and the media, and the clips are full of provocations. Artists also paid attention to the problem of the Armenian Genocide.
The bright Tankian vocal became an integral line of the group image. The hits of the team from 2002 to 2007 were regularly nominated at Grammy. In 2005, the team received the MTV Europe Music Awards prize, in 2006 - Esno Awards, and in 2007 - Grammy. Among the favorite listeners of songs of the song "Lonely Day", "Aerials", "Roulette".
System of a Down now
The group did not please fans with new compositions since 2005. During this time, the vocalist Serge Tankian was realized as a solo performer. In 2019, the questions of the representatives of the media on the continuation of the creative way, the members of the team answered that the Tankian does not want to work on a new record with producer who was engaged in promoting the group earlier. At the same time, the work of Rick Rubin arranged other team members.
Tankian does not cease to attract the attention of the public. After the final season of the final season of the "Games of the Thrones", he published on the Facebook page written by the studio version of the Hita project. The composer Ramin Javady was invited to cooperate Tankian.
System of a Down has a verified page in "Instagram", where, despite creative stagnation, and now photo and video from concerts of the team, album covers, and singles, links to third-party projects continue to be published. On social networks, a comparison of the concerts and sound of System of A Down and Rammstein, which is conducted by group fans.
Discography
- 1998 - System Of A Down
- 2001 - "Toxicity"
- 2002 - "Steal This Album!"
- 2005 - "MEZMERIZE"
- 2005 - "HYPNOTIZE"
Clips
- "Chop Suey!"
- "B.Y.O.B."
- "Question!"
- "War?"
- "HYPNOTIZE"
- "SOLDIER SIDE"
- "Boom!"
- "Sugar"