The System is Down

Album: Scars on Broadway
Artist: Scars on Broadway
Genre: Alternative Metal
Year: 2008
Label: Interscope

With System of a Down on a much-needed hiatus, the world finds itself with a hole that was once filled by aggressive, politically urgent music. That hole it seems is going to be filled by none other then the former members of System themselves, with each member pursuing their own projects. Serj Tankian, System’s vocalist went solo, releasing a record called Elect the Dead, which was exactly what the last two System records should have been: aggressive Metal music with Serj’s often surreal poetry complementing the whole affair. Shavo Odadjian, System’s bass player, is palling around with RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan but has yet to show us anything really concrete with his Achozen project. In the interim, Daron Malakian, System’s guitarist, has teamed up with John Dolmayan, System’s drummer, to form a new band called Scars on Broadway. The formula is to combine aggressive Metal music with politically urgent vocals. Sound familiar? On Scars on Broadways debut album, the auspiciously titled Scars on Broadway, we find Malakian doing little to deviate from System of a Down’s particular brand of Thrash Metal. But is this necessarily a bad thing? The answer is yes. As a friend of mine once said “what’s the point of having a solo project if it doesn’t sound any different from your regular band?”.

System of a Down created an excellent record in their early days and has steadily progressed backwards from there. The first album was a blend of Malakian’s Thrash Metal leanings and Tankian’s abstract, yet politically aware, lyrics. It was dark, abrasive and yet kind of accessible, probably due to Rick (The Dick) Rubin’s production. The second album was more of the same but even more accessible. System’s last two full lengths, Mezmerize and Hypnotize, were both mainly penned by Malakian, with him stepping forward to share vocal duties with Tankian. Here’s where the camels back breaks. Malakian, while able to pen an excellent riff, can’t sing like Tankian, he doesn’t even come close. Also, his lyrics tend to be more straightforward and down to earth in comparison to Tankian’s uncanny ramblings, giving the whole thing a less abstract and more unfussy atmosphere. This is what ruined the last two System albums for me, too much Malakian, not enough Tankian. Malakian was responsible as the lead songwriter on both albums for penning some of the worst songs in System’s catalogue, with Serj stepping in to save the day in only a couple of places. So my reaction to hearing that Malakian was releasing a solo album went like this: “Really? Why?”

But here’s a question, does Malakian fail as epically when Tankian isn’t around to be compared to? The answer is: kind of. Malakain still suffers from one big factor: his voice. It’s just annoying, high pitched and whiny. However good the music is completely overshadowed by the man’s petulant wailing. This is what I believe I will refer to as “Rush Syndrome” a situation where otherwise talented musicians suffer from an inept vocalist (maybe not, Rush isn’t that talented, suggestions?) The music, when taken on its own, is adequate. If you like the riffage of System then you won’t have any complaints here. That, however, is the problem. Adequate instrumentation and poor vocals combine to form even poorer music and there isn’t a whole lot of new ground being covered here. Malakian is still pissed about the system, the government, and the world and shows no signs of lightening up. And that’s fine, it’s good to be politically conscious, but that doesn’t mean you have to sing about it.
I am of the opinion that Scars on Broadway is a project with a future as every single fan of System of a Down will be sure to pick it up. But is it as good as either previous System records or Tankian’s solo album? No. Not really.

I still like Malakian, provided he doesn’t sing. The man has some musical chops that aren’t going away anytime soon. But he needs his band for them really to shine and he needs a vocalist worth backing Oh well. Maybe Odadjian’s project will bear fruit, cause this one sure didn’t.