System Of A Down’s Shavo Odadjian shares snippet of new solo music

Shavo Odadjian performing live — (Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty/ABA)

System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has released a snippet of music from his upcoming solo album.

The musician posted a short video teasing his new material to Instagram on Friday, July 21. “Here’s another snippet from my solo record,” he wrote. “Work in progress. It’s getting close…”

Sonically, Odadjian’s new music sounds very heavy, although there are segues showcasing more atmospheric sounds as well. The snippet posted was purely instrumental.

Odadjian talked about his impending solo album in an interview with Radioactive With Mike Z back in April. During the conversation, the bassist revealed that Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis will appear on the album and compared the music to that of System Of A Down’s 2001 magnum opus, Toxicity. He’s targeting a release date of late 2023 or early 2024 for the record.

“I started this solo project with MorgothBeatz [Winds Of Plague guitarist Michael Montoya]; he’s my producer and he’s also the guitar player for the group,” said Odadjian (as transcribed by Metal Injection). “And it’s called Shavo, but it’s heavy. I’m back to my roots – no hip-hop. I think it’s the heaviest I’ve ever been, and it’s just flowing out of me.”

Odadjian continued: “We have a track with – I’m gonna say it – Jonathan Davis. I’m working on that one right now. We have the choruses and the first verse, and I’m gonna do a little breakdown, and I think we’ve got one. That’s 12 – number 12. So we’re 12 songs into the solo record. I’m very excited about that.

“It’s a little of Toxicity all throughout this record – that kind of shit. You wanna bang your head, you wanna run in the pit, you wanna go crazy, but you wanna smile while you’re doing it and not be angry.”

Odadjian continues to be a member of System Of A Down, although the band don’t have any new music or tour dates announced at time of publication.

Listen to the teaser of Odadjian’s new music below:

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.