Daron Malakian's first Scars On Broadway album in 10 years has been dubbed Dictator and will be out July 20. When Malakian revealed Scars On Broadway was reactivating, we naturally began joking that there would probably never be a new System Of A Down record. Turns out we were actually way closer to the truth than we thought.
According to Malakian in an interview with Rolling Stone, he wrote and recorded the entire album himself in 2012. He says he sat on the album for a little while because System Of A Down wasn't sure if a new album was going to happen or not, and he didn't want to make a move with the material before he knew what the situation was.
I recorded the album and then around that time System started playing live again. So every time we'd play live, there'd be conversations like, 'Maybe we'll do an album.' So being the guy who wrote the majority of almost all the System songs in the past, I was like, 'Alright, let me see what's happening with it. Let me hold onto these songs and let me see how this develops.' We talked about it and we weren't all on the same page. Not everybody was into the idea. But every time we played live, it kept coming up.
I just got to the point now where a lot of people were asking about the Scars album – I hear it all the time – so I was like, 'I'm gonna put this album out.' Not knowing what's happening with System has kept me from putting my own stuff out. Too much time has passed, and I'm really excited to finally get some music out finally.
On the plus side, Dictator is the closest we're getting to a System Of A Down record right now. Malakian also adds in the interview that he's working with a full band again and plans to hit the studio in about four months to record another album. As for the System Of A Down record, it's still up in the air.
No, it's not abandoned. But as of right now, not everyone is on the same page. Trust me, man, I'm probably the biggest System Of A Down fan in the world. I mean, I named the band [laughs]. So I'd like to see something like that happen.
