SERJ TANKIAN Says His New Rock Solo EP Has ‘More Synth Flavors Than Most SYSTEM OF A DOWN Songs’

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SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian spoke to Grammy.com about "Elasticity", his upcoming solo EP of what he has previously described as "rock songs." He said: "These were primarily songs that I wanted to do with SYSTEM. When we weren't able to see eye to eye I just went ahead and finished them. They have more synth flavors than most SYSTEM songs do, more arpeggiated stuff like that, but they still have the heavy groove and also a lot of beautiful ballady stuff that is more like 'Elect The Dead' and some of my earlier solo stuff. It's a really good EP." Due later this year, "Elasticity"'s title is a play on SYSTEM's massive 2001 album "Toxicity". Serj explained to SPIN: "I think I'm gonna call it 'Elasticity' just because I wanted to do it with SYSTEM and it didn't happen. For me, it's not 'Toxicity' but it is 'Toxicity'. [Laughs] That's what I'm thinking of calling it. I haven't finalized it, but that's what I'm thinking of calling it." SYSTEM OF A DOWN hasn't released any new music since the "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" LPs, which came out in 2005. In 2018, guitarist Daron Malakian publicly accused Tankian of not wanting to record, with Tankian responding that creative and financial issues with Malakian led to the stalemate. In a message on Facebook, Tankian wrote that Malakian wanted to control SYSTEM's creative process, take more of the publishing money and be the only band member to speak to the press. Last year, Serj told Rolling Stone that the public airing of his dispute with Daron didn't open up any more conversations about SYSTEM's future. "I think it released a lot of tension and negativity," he said. "Everything became more public and open, and that was that. There were no further discussions." SYSTEM OF A DOWN played a couple of live shows last May, including headlining slots at Columbus, Ohio's Sonic Temple festival and Chicago Open Air. The band was scheduled to play a number of European festivals this summer, but all of those shows appear to have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.