- published: 03 Oct 2009
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System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums).
The band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums; from which three debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and won the award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "B.Y.O.B.". The group went on hiatus in August 2006, but reunited in November 2010, embarking on a worldwide tour in 2011.
Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian all attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School while children, although because of their eight-year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording studio. They formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio quit the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere.
Dark is the light,
The man you fight,
With all your prayers, incantations,
Running away, a trivial day,
Of judgment and deliverance,
To whom was sold, this bounty soul,
A gentile or a priest ?
Who victored over, the Seljuks,
When the holy land was taken
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
Was it the riches, of the land,
Powers of bright darkness,
That lead the noble, to the East,
To fight the lord
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
With your AK47s, M16s
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
With your AK47s, M16s
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
Soldiers marching on,
Believing there's no God,
Disguising narrow mind,
Deceiving in the night,
We must call upon our bright darkness,
We must swim through the river of silence,
We must break through the wall of violence,
Nothing else will get us down.
We mustÿ call to our bright darkness,
We must swim through the river of silence,
We must break through the wall of violence,
Nothing else will get us down
We must call upon our bright darkness,
Beliefs, they're the bullets of the wicked,
One was written on the sword,
For you must enter a room to destroy it, destroy it, destroy it.
No International security,
No Call of the righteous man,
Needs a reason to kill a man,
History teaches us so,
The reason he must attain,
Must be approved by his God,
His child, partisan brother of war,
Of war, we don't speak anymore,
Of war, we don't speak anymore,
Of war, we don't speak anymore,
Of war, we don't speak anymore,
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
With your AK47s, M16s
We will fight the heathens, We will fight the heathens
With your AK47s, M16s