System of a down short biography

System Of A Down, a Los Angeles-based "nu-metal" band, was formed by three Armenian-Americans (Serj Tankian on vocals, Daron Malakian on guitar, Shavo Odadjian on bass). System Of A Down (American, 1998) introduced a violent approach to social commentary, reminiscent of the hysteria of the old punk-rock school but enhanced with metal riffs and assorted sonic detours.

War? and Suite-Pee bear the stigmata of the Dead Kennedys, plus panzer riffs and demented screams. The best of the political rants, P.L.U.C.K., is a volcano that erupts sweet refrains, death groans, psychotic riffs and even ska beats.

However, the band's originality is best displayed in the songs that straddle the border between genres, both in the ethnic realm, notably the syncopated middle-eastern metal fusion of Know, but also the foreign musical accents of Soil, in the pop realm, such as the bombastic power-ballad Spiders, and in the grotesque realm, with Sugar, and Suggestions, two music-hall ski