System of a Down isn't making music for mainstream listeners. Front man Serj Tankian clarified that in a new interview with Fresno, California's KSEE24 saying, “I'll tell you this: we've never tried to appeal to a mainstream audience. If we were, we wouldn't be writing the type of music we did from day one — very left of center, nutty and comical and deadly serious at the same time.”
He added, “Part of the music that I really pay attention to are ones that move me beyond and really, really challenge my senses for finding justice and doing things with the music outside of just the entertainment aspect of it, and those are the artists that I really appreciated over the years. So that's been a huge part of what System of a Down does, needless to say, and our fans, I think, appreciate that.”
Last month, System of A Down released their first new songs in 15 years “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz.” The songs were motivated by the recent conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Both tunes have raised over $600,000 for the Armenia Fund.
The band is planning to film a music video for “Genocidal Humanoidz” sometime this month.