Odadjian predicts SOAD will record again

Shavo Odadjian says he expects System Of A Down to release a new record – but won’t commit to a timescale.

The bass player is gearing up for SOAD’s upcoming Wake Up The Souls world tour to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of April 1915, in which 1.5million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire.

And while his bandmates have been noncommittal on whether the band will finally record a follow-up to 2005 albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize, Odadjian is confident it will happen.

Asked if fans can expect a 2015 or 2016 album, he tells BackstageAxxess: “We’re always working. I don’t wanna give you a time, because I don’t wanna be false. But when it’s ready, people will hear it.

“We’ve been around for 20 years, so you have to sometimes go away and come back with all this new energy and all this new influence and inspiration. So that’s what we did.

“Everyone thought we broke up, but we didn’t. All we did was gain oomph and gain experience and love each other more and miss each other. We’re brothers. I’ll take bullets for any one of those guys.”

Frontman Serj Tankian last month said SOAD would only return to the studio if he and guitarist Daron Malakian can write enough material that they deem good enough.

Last year, drummer John Dolmoyan said he was growing frustrated with the band’s inactivity.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.