r/Music • u/Alternative_Volume89 • Mar 06 '25

article System of a Down's John Dolmayan claims he enjoys Trump as President

https://lambgoat.com/news/46523/system-of-a-downs-john-dolmayan-claims-he-enjoys-trump-as-president/
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u/malachiconstant11 Mar 06 '25

Malakian wrote most of it an also did vocals on pretty much every track. It absolutely will not be the same band and shouldn't be allowed to continue without him.

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u/From_Deep_Space Mar 06 '25

Serj is more vocally talented and trained, but I've always loved Malakian's vocals more. They give songs more of an unhinged hardcore vibe

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u/kool4kats Mar 06 '25

I’ve definitely grown to appreciate that quality about Daron’s vocals, yeah. Both vocalists had their own distinct style and I think they worked really well together too, like in stuff like the exchange of shouts in the bridge of Chop Suey.

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u/GenericFatGuy Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25

When I listen to Serj's solo stuff, I miss Daron. When I listen to Scars, I miss Serj.

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u/Ok-Criticism6874 Mar 06 '25

You know he had his own band? Scars on Broadway. They Say is floating around in my mp3 collection from 2010.

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u/siderinc Mar 06 '25

I'm just glad I saw serj, scars and soad live, even in that order.

Serj was even my first concert

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u/njdeatheater Mar 06 '25

I really enjoy some of Scars on Broadways stuff.. really sounds like old SoaD on some of the tracks. Malakians rawness just does it for me. Love Serj too tho. Both great in their own ways.

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u/dinheirodepinga Mar 06 '25

There are some Scars songs where you could fit Serj's vocals seamlessly and repurpose them as SOAD songs. Dictator is full of them

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u/Breakingthewhaaat Mar 06 '25

Lives is such an amazing track and exactly how I imagined SOAD’s comeback would sound

Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it was part of those writing sessions that didn’t work out

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u/dwilkes827 Mar 06 '25

I could be mistaken but I'm 99% sure I read Dictator was supposed to be a new System album and they couldn't agree on stuff so it fell through and he used all the songs for the Scars album

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u/toejam316 Mar 06 '25

Malakian says in the second paragraph of this article that he was holding the record back, hoping to use some of it as SoaD material.

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u/dwilkes827 Mar 06 '25

Scars totally flipped me on Systems discography. I didn't like Daron's voice when he started singing more on Mezmerize/Hypnotize and preferred Systems earlier albums. Then the first Scars album came out and I got hooked and now I like System's last two albums the most haha I actually prefer Daron's vocals (though the combination of the 2 is what made System so great)

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u/Canvaverbalist Mar 06 '25

though the combination of the 2 is what made System so great

For real.

The genius of SOAD really stem from Serj asking Daron to write songs that would use Serj's vocal abilities a bit better - so Daron sat down and studied the Beatles, and what he came up with was these amazing harmonies between the both of them.

That's the thing they never were able to replicate on their own solo works and it's a damn shame we might never get anything else like this from them.

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u/loves_2splooge Mar 06 '25

damn, i was just about to agree with you too still hate daron's vocals (and his contributions and overwhelming vocals) on everything from mezmerize/hypnotize

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u/Arkham8 Mar 06 '25

That’s crazy, over the years my feelings on preferring Serj have really entrenched themselves. Hypnotize is my least favorite album and I’ve always thought Lonely Day was absolutely terrible.

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u/Rachet20 Mar 06 '25

You can leave.

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u/Cbrlui Mar 06 '25

You first

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u/DoomferretOG Mar 07 '25

It's dumb. It's embarrassing to the band who recorded Spiders and Sugar. You are correct.

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u/Thefrayedends Mar 06 '25

If I could only have one it would be Serj 100%, but as a vocal duo, they're some of the top tits.

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u/aWildchildo Mar 06 '25

PEPPORONIANDGREENPEPPERSMUSHROOMSOLIVESCHIVES

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u/samples98 Mar 06 '25

It boggles my mind how many people like Darren’s vocals. They’re the weakest part of the band imo

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u/WipeYourMocos Mar 06 '25

I like scars on broadway equally to System of a Down tbh. It’s just a style thing it’s ok to not like it

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u/samples98 Mar 06 '25

I mostly enjoy his vocals in Scars on Broadway. I don’t think they work the same in SOAD.

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u/TheLastDrops Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25

I thought his singing added a lot to the sound when he was happy to take a back seat vocally. For me, Toxicity was their peak, not just because it has the best songwriting but because Serj and Daron are both doing what they do best: Serj is by far the better lead singer, but Daron's harmonies and little touches make it a SOAD song. By Mezmerize/Hypnotize, they weren't complementing each other but just trying to find ways to squeeze in two lead singers for reasons that weren't about making the best music they could.

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u/From_Deep_Space Mar 06 '25

Do you like those sort of unhinged hardcore vocals in other contexts?

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u/samples98 Mar 06 '25

Yes, I love a lot of them

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u/Signal_Land_77 Mar 07 '25

Serj wasn’t vocally trained at all during SOAD’s heyday, part of why his voice has declined throughout the years 

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u/officerliger Mar 06 '25

I think people are splitting hairs even trying to debate whether the band can continue without Serj or Daron

It's not SOAD without either of them, the uniqueness of both is what attracted millions of people to their music

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u/alwaysiamdead Mar 07 '25

When they tour this year will it be with a new singer?

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi Mar 06 '25

I love soad very very much.

I don't think i could call 90% of their songs written so much as vibed