" STARLIT EYES ": System of A Down

System of A Down beranggotakan

Serj Tankian - vokalis dan kibor
Daron Malakian - gitaris dan vokal
Shavo Odadjian - basis
John Dolmayan - drum

Keempat anggota band System of a Down merupakan keturunan etnis Armenia. Tankian dan Dolmayan lahir di Libanon.

Lagu-lagu mereka terutama terkenal selain gayanya yang inovatif, dengan sentuhan musik Armenia. Selain itu isinya juga berisikan ide, pandangan-pandangan,dan apa yang mereka rasakan. Serj Tankian sebagai anggota yang cukup menonjol, memaparkan ide-ide politiknya dalam lagu-lagu SOAD. Mulai dari kampanye rekonisi terhadap Genosida Armenia oleh pemerintah Turki yang terus mereka usung, hingga masalah sosial-politik seperti konsumerisme, perang, globalisasi, lingkungan, dan Kekerasan. Selain itu, mereka menulis lagu tentang perubahan atau transformasi pemikiran mereka.

Kompas pernah menulis artikel tentang band ini dengan judul "Band Keras Anti Kekerasan". Pemikiran Serj cukup di pengaruhi oleh pengamat politik kiri AS Noam Chomsky. Serj Tankian bersama Tom Morello mantan gitaris Rage Against The Machine mendirikan LSM Politik dengan nama Axis of Justice (nama LSM ini merupakan plesetan sarkastis dari salah satu pidato Presiden AS yang menyebut 3 negara sebagai Axis of Evil).

System of a Down memiliki sangat banyak gaya musik antara lain: metal / rap / hardrock / jazz / dan gaya musik Timur Tengah.

Album

System of a Down (30 Juni 1998) -- Platinum
Toxicity (4 September 2001) -- 3x Platinum
Steal This Album! (26 November 2002) -- Platinum
Mezmerize (17 Mei 2005) -- Platinum
Hypnotize (11 September 2005) -- Platinum

System of a Down (commonly referred to as System or abbreviated as SOAD) is a four-piece American rock band, formed in 1995 in Glendale, California.

The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music have made it difficult to describe. Though they have evolved their sound with each album, System of a Down has, for the most part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This style mixes elements and influences from a wide variety of genres such as alternative rock, punk rock, folk music, psychedelic music, classic metal, symphonic metal, thrash metal, and progressive rock. This has made them difficult to categorize, prompting the press to describe them with several different genre handles, among them alternative metal,^[11] hard rock,^[11]^[12] nu metal^[13]^[14] and progressive metal.

The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars. Furthermore, a variety of keyboards and synthesizers have been used on live shows. Drop C tuning was used exclusively on the first three albums, with later records mostly relying on drop Db tuning.

The band has cited Middle Eastern music as one of its influences and mentioned on several accounts that they appreciate The Beatles and Kiss. On their own style, Odadjian said "I don't think we sound like anybody else. I consider us System of a Down." and Dolmayan stated "You can compare us to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are.

The roots of System of a Down lie in the band Soil, a group from Los Angeles that included Serj Tankian on vocals/keyboard, and Daron Malakian on vocals/guitar, as well as Dave Hakopyan (Bassist for Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo Laranio (Local Hawaii Drummer) on drums. Shavo Odadjian joined Soil near their end as a guitarist. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, the band split up.
After Rick helped them get signed onto American/Columbia Records, SOAD began to record in his studio. In 1997 SOAD won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Award

Saat Ini SOAD sedang vakum dan personelnya mempunyai kegiatan masing-masing. Serj Tankian dengan Serjical Strike Records & Elect The Dead-nya.