System of a Down- Protect the Land, Genocidal Humanoidz

      As I was preparing to write about some polish electronic records I want to recommend those System of a Down tracks dropped and I had to stop everything I was doing. We’ve seen plenty of major comebacks in recent years but SOAD getting back together is something everyone deemed to be impossible. Which is a real shame, with Mezmerize/Hypnotize the band really ended things while being at their creative peak and Tarkian’s later solo work had a tone of wasted potential, it was begging for a better guitar performance or a Malakian’s vocal contribution.

     After fifteen years of waiting, SOAD are finally back and it seems like no time has passed. Neither Protect The Land, nor Genocidal Humanoidz are on the level of the singles from their previous albums but I don’t know if anyone was expecting them to come out with another Toxicity after such a long break. They might have easily snuck into any of their records and be a very satisfying deep cut. Protect The Land is the lengthier and slower track, it brings to mind songs like Aerials or Lonely Day, especially some melodic elements reminds me of the latter one. Guitar riff got me worried at first listen, it felt way to normal for them but as the track progressed everything fell into place, It’s definitely carried more by the vocal performances. Genocidal Humanoidz brings a nice contrast and a relief for those worried they won’t hear the more over-the-top side of SOAD. It’s two minutes of a insane guitar riff and Serj shouting the same sentence. Just like the old days. The most important thing to mention about those songs is that there’s a huge political reason for them to release those tracks, they are basically a charity single of two patriotic anthems, to even bigger extend than SOAD music tends to be. They released a full statement on their bandcamp page.

    It’s hard to tell if those tracks were a one-time reunion or if they might lead to another full length album being released in the future. It might still take a long time but at least there’s hope again that hearing another SOAD record some day is a real possibility.