System Of A Down have been the talk on everyone's lips over the past week, surprising fans with two new songs and their first new music in 15 years.


Both songs 'Protect The Land' and 'Genocidal Humanoidz' were released to turn attention to Armenians facing an ethnic cleansing in Artsakh at the hands of Azerbaijan armed forces in a new war, with all funds raised from the new music going to the Armenian Fund to help with humanitarian aid.


In a new interview with FOX 11, SOAD members Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadijan explained how the band reunited for the cause and the severity of the conflict. Serj said of the situation:

"It's about raising awareness about what's going on with the humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh perpetrated by Azerbaijan and Turkey...it's a catastrophe, they've brought in over 2,000 mercenaries from Syria. Now this war is going to destabilise the whole region. It already is destabilising the whole region with Russia and Iran on the border."

Shavo went on to echo concern: 

"I'm just really crushed. My wife said it's like waking up to 9/11 every morning for us...we're just bringing out to light something that a lot of people are in the dark about."


"The song (Protect the land) is about the soldiers, it's about who's protecting our land at the moment. We are part of a diaspora, we're all over the world doing everything we can, but the reality is that these 17-20 year old kids are out there fighting every day. It's been 30-something days now, we're losing kids. This is to boost morale and let them know we got their back and we're here, even though we're thousands of miles away, we're here and we're not going anywhere."

Odadijan continued, explaining it was drummer John Dolmayan who set the plans in motion via a group text, while Daron Malakian quickly had the music and lyrics ready:

"He said "yo, we need to put everything behind and do something. We need to be a part of this, we need to help in any way we can. This is bigger than us, bigger than our emotions, bigger than our feelings, bigger than our egos. Let's go." And right away, Daron responded with "Here, I have something that could save time".

Watch the interview below:

 

In a fresh revelation, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has just signed a peace agreement with Russian and Azerbaijan leaders to put an end to the war that has left hundreds dead over the past six weeks. The PM's statement said:

"This is not a victory but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth."

Listen to System Of A Down now.