A new System Of A Down record seems unlikely until vocalist Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian can compromise on how they want to approach writing. Unfortunately those creative differences (in general) extend to the release of some stuff System Of A Down has laying around as well.
In an interview with The Jesse Lea Show, Tankian said System Of A Down has some unreleased material that rocks pretty hard. But until everyone agrees on how and when it should be released, those songs are staying firmly in the System Of A Down vault.
"We do have a small group of unreleased System of a Down songs, and we haven't agreed… I mean, I would have liked to release them maybe with a greatest hits or something like that. But until everyone agrees, it's not going to happen. I don't necessarily think we should release everything that's unreleased but… it's not that much anyway, but in terms of archival at one point, why not? There are some really good gems in there, I gotta say at least two three gems."
Tankian also touched on how he sees a new System Of A Down record happening, noting it's all about a shared vision.
"[An] egalitarian approach to everything within the band. [In other words] kind of more equality in terms of sourcing of the music, in terms of splitting everything, including publishing, in terms of ideas, in terms of sharing the vision — that kind of stuff.
"It's in the book. We call it a manifesto jokingly because I wrote points down that, years ago when I had some new songs that I thought would be amazing with System, and so I played it for the guys. And I said, 'Guys, I've got an idea of a vision, a different way forward that I think would be very beneficial for the band.' And I presented it — we call it a manifesto in the book almost half jokingly, but bringing a manifesto to rock musicians is… [Laughs] I guess it doesn't work — it doesn't work.
"But I was trying to instill the same type of egalitarian principles as I love as an activist within whatever I do. And at that time, it didn't work, but maybe it will one day. We'll see."
