System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian, who had historically said no to a new record, seems to be coming around on the idea. Tankian said back in February that he's not sure if the band will make any new music this year, which was much better than his usual answer. Now in an interview with Consequence of Sound, Tankian outright said the band's two new songs give him hope that the band can continue on with a new record. That is, as long as everyone in the band can put aside their creative and philosophical differences.
For those unaware, the band put out two new songs to raise awareness about the ongoing attacks against Artsakh and Armenia, titled "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz", in 2020. They made it clear at the time that those songs were specifically to raise awareness and were not indicative of more things to come.
"Honestly, I'm extremely proud of us getting together for our people and the cause, at a time where Azerbaijan and Turkey not only attacked Armenians in Artsakh with military equipment, but they also attacked the Armenian nation with disinformation around the world, using caviar diplomacy over the year," said Tankian.
"Azerbaijan bought off a lot of politicians and they tried to create false parody in journalism and in the media — and it succeeded for a little while. So, I'm proud to say that our songs coming out, especially the video for 'Protect The Land', really kind of bit into that all in one day — just kind of boom, let the world know that these are people living on their own indigenous land, they're being attacked, they're trying to protect their families, and they're dying because you got the second largest NATO ally Turkey basically attacking them along with Azerbaijan — both dictatorships attacking a democratic, progressive, first Christian nation society."
"So, I'm really proud of the work that we've done with System of a Down, and it does give me hope that one day we might be able to get it together and do something again together. I think we were able to do it because we were able to put aside our philosophies and our creative differences even, and just go, 'Who's got a song that'll work?,' because at this point it's just a weapon for truth and not about us. And it worked."
