System of a Down

The music of System of a Down reveals the Armenian heritage of the four members, fusing furious alternative metal with folky flourishes and reaping platinum-selling commercial success.

The band was formed in 1995 and released a series of demo tapes in the late 1990s. Finally Demo Tape 4 reached the attention of the record labels resulting in their first studio outing, 1998’s System of a Down. They supported this album by touring widely, joining Slayer, Fear Factory and Incubus among others.

The second album, Toxicity (2001), was a huge success, going on to sell over six million copies across the world. Among the singles were “Chop Suey!”, which won a Grammy, “Toxicity” and “Aerials”. Steal This Album! was released in 2002, with a title that related to the fact that several previously unreleased tracks had found their way onto the internet.

In May 2005 Mezmerize was released, the first of a double album in which the two halves were released six months apart. Hypnotize was duly released in November, and both debuted at No.1 in the Billboard charts. After touring in support of the two albums System of a Down announced that they would be taking a break, though they insisted that this was not a roundabout way of breaking up. In the meantime Malakian and Dolmayan have been working with Scars On Broadway, and Tankian released a solo album Elect The Dead in 2007. Odadjian is planning a project with Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA.