System of a Down’s try at writing a new album between 2016 and 2018 ended up with the group shutting down classes amid inventive variations, however in a new interview with Q With Tom Power on Canada’s CBC Radio One, singer Serj Tankian supplied extra perception into what precisely was on the heart of their lack of ability to finish a new document.

As most know, the inventive lead within the band has typically been cut up between Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian. And in the course of the chat with Power, Tankian detailed how the inventive dynamic has shifted since their early years with each musicians choosing up extra of what the opposite musician had initially finished.

Serj Tankian Explains System of a Down’s Creative Dynamic

In talking about his inventive companion in System of a Down, Tankian known as Malakian a “lifer” who’s “incredibly serious about his music and he’s incredibly protective of his music and vulnerable due to his music.”

“I think that created some of the creative differences that we started finding. And it’s also our progression,” added the singer.

He defined their inventive evolution, commenting, “When Daron and I started working together, I didn’t really write a lot of instrumental music — I mostly wrote lyrics; I was the lyricist; I was the singer. And he didn’t write any lyrics; he just wrote music. But as time progressed and I played more musical instruments and I started becoming a songwriter/composer and he started writing more lyrics, we started kind of covering each other’s territory. And I was okay with that.”

The Crux of System of a Down’s Creative Difference

Tankian went on to elucidate, “If he wrote lyrics, I was trying to encourage him to write more, because I believe in artistic growth. I believe in progression. I don’t believe in things staying the same way, for music’s sake. Otherwise the music becomes the same thing over and over again. That progression is necessary in every artist’s life or in every group’s life. So I was very encouraging of that.”

“I just wish that I got some of that back,” says the vocalist. “And so that wasn’t the case, and it was disappointing. And it became a creative difference over the band’s path, and whatnot, over time.”

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian Speaks With Q With Tom Power

The Start and Stop

After a few years of feedback by varied band members about their recording future, in 2015, Tankian revealed that there truly had been speak of a new System of a Down album. Shavo Odadjian confirmed later that yr that some writing had truly been finished individually by band members. And by 2016, the group’s members began speaking about attempting to deliver their concepts collectively.

In November 2016, drummer John Dolmayan confirmed that the group had been engaged on new music, however by May of 2017 there was speak of the band being disheartened by their lack of progress. In December 2017, Tankian first revealed that the group could not see eye to eye on the best way to transfer ahead and in 2018, the brand new album concept broke down.

READ MORE: System of a Down Auditioned Vocalist After Serj Tankian Offered to Step Down

Both Malakian and Tankian used some of the fabric they’d in thoughts for System to launch their respective information for Malakian’s Scars on Broadway and Tankian’s solo work.

What Daron Malakian Previously Said About System of a Down’s Creative Breakdown

In a 2018 interview with Kerrang!, Malakian commented, “There’s just a certain way that System make albums, and there’s a bunch of us that want to make an album that way. And there is, I guess, one of us, [Serj], that doesn’t want to make an album that way and wants to make an album his way, and not everyone is on board with that.”

“We’ve all sat down and we’ve had meetings, and he’s totally set in his way of thinking,” he later added.

Tankian, in a separate assertion in response to Malakian’s Kerrang! interview, defined, “Ultimately I had to draw a line in the sand because I knew I could never be happy going back to how things used to be within the band. And as we couldn’t see eye to eye on all these points we decided to put aside the idea of a record altogether for the time being.”

He then added, “My only regret is that we have been collectively unable to give you another SOAD record. For that I apologize.”

System of a Down in 2024

System of a Down lately headlined the Sick New World pageant in Las Vegas and have one different present on the books for 2024. That could be one other one-off efficiency at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Aug. 17 with co-headliners Deftones, together with The Mars Volta, Viagra Boys and VOWWS.

Tankian, in the meantime, is at present selling his new memoir, “Down With the System.”