At the end of October, fighting erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, reigniting a decades-old war. By way of response, System have recorded two new songs, the proceeds of which will go to the Armenia Fund, a charity that provides assistance to those in need in Artsakh and Armenia.
Written and produced by Daron Malakian, both songs are peak System Of A Down, but from very different eras. The first track, Protect The Land, could easily have been culled from their 2005 Hypnotize album, with Daron’s off-kilter vocals taking centre stage, with that dirgey tone SOAD perfected in the latter stages of their recording career. It’s fairly on-the-nose lyrically, akin to something like BYOB, asking the listener ‘Would you stay and take a stand? Would you stay with gun in hand?’ while the video shows regular working people donning fatigues to fight and (as the song title suggests) protect the land. Throughout its five minutes we’re treated to a smorgasbord of signature System, from that unmistakable Serj/Daron vocal harmony and those elongated guitar lines that build and swell, to the jaunty syllable bouncing of ‘history and victory and legacy’ that still maintains the band’s carnival aesthetic.