And even though System don’t all share the same politics - Tankian has voiced support for Democrats, and drummer John Dolmayan (the singer’s brother-in-law) supports Trump - they decided to put those differences aside as well, since they believe the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh transcends American politics. The band believes that Azerbaijan planned out the timing of the attack to coincide with news coverage focusing on the U.S. has warned that attacks on citizens in the area could be considered war crimes. The organization Human Rights Watch has claimed that Azerbaijan has used banned weapons and cluster munitions in its fight (it says Armenia used or supplied cluster munitions used in an attack as well), and the British newspaper, Morning Star, has reported on an Azerbaijani soldier who beheaded an Armenian soldier and taunted his family with it. The prime minister of Armenia, which has received support from Russia, suggested that Azerbaijan has recruited mercenaries from Syria, although the latter country denies it. Russia, France, and the United States have each attempted to mediate cease-fires between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but none have stuck.Īrmenia, a country of about 3 million, is well-outnumbered by Azerbaijan, which has 10 million citizens, a stronger military, and aid from Turkey, Armenia’s longtime foe since the 1915 Armenian Genocide, which was propagated by Ottoman Turks. Azerbaijan initiated another war this past September after its president, Ilham Aliyev, took umbrage with Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s claim this past spring that Nagorno-Karabakh was wholly Armenian. A previous war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with a cease-fire and Armenians in control of the region in 1994. The band decided to put its differences aside last month after war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic-Armenian region of Azerbaijan that Armenians call “Artsakh.” It covers about 1,700 square miles of mountainous terrain, and it has had a long, bloody history that has scarred the people who live there. How True Is 'Respect'? Fact-Checking the Aretha Franklin Biopic
They have since toured together and remained friends, but internally, the struggle for creative control has seemed insurmountable. Their singer, Serj Tankian, had asked for a more democratic songwriting process - guitarist-vocalist Daron Malakian wrote nearly everything - but they couldn’t reach a meeting of the minds.
But despite their success, they have not been able to agree on a path forward ever since. When it came out, it was an instant hit, the second of two System albums to debut at Number One in 2005. Both songs are available on the group’s Bandcamp page.įifteen years have passed since the Grammy-winning alt-metal group released their last record, Hypnotize. The band will donate proceeds from the songs, which come out Friday, to aid Armenians, and it is soliciting fans to donate to the Armenia Fund, which provides humanitarian relief to the region. After seeing the country of Azerbaijan start a conflict with Armenia in September, the musicians, who are all of Armenian descent, rushed into the studio to record two new songs, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” to draw attention to the crisis in their ancestral homeland. It took a war for System of a Down to record new music.
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