SERJ TANKIAN Explains SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s Reactivation & Lack Of A New Album: “When It Feels Right, We’ll Do It”

System Of A Down are set to embark on their biggest-ever North American stadium tour in late August and September 2025 — but fans hoping for a new album will once again be left disappointed.

During an appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, frontman Serj Tankian addressed the future of System Of A Down and why a follow-up to 2005’s Mezmerize and Hypnotize still hasn’t materialized.

“Not at this time,” Tankian said when asked about new music. “We’re all working on music. Daron [Malakian] just put out a record with Scars On Broadway, which is really good. I recommend people check it out. I’m putting out a record of covers, collaborations and collages… But for System, it’s not about whether we all want to make a record. It’s about whether we see it the same way creatively. If we don’t, it’s not worth doing. If we do, then it’s worth doing.”

System Of A Down, who reunited in 2011 after a lengthy hiatus, have toured intermittently but released only two new songs in nearly two decades: “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz”, both in 2020. The tracks were motivated by the conflict in Artsakh, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian aid in Armenia. Together with fan donations, they raised over $600,000.

Tankian explained that the reason behind the lack of new material is purely artistic: “Our differences of opinion were always creative differences, which I am proud to say. They weren’t personal differences. We always loved and respected each other, and more than ever now. So, that’s not why we haven’t made a record. We haven’t made a record because of a vision difference, and that’s an artistic difference.”

He emphasized the group’s unity offstage: “Most bands, they don’t work together because they may not like each other. In our case, that’s not the case at all. We love each other. We’ll tour together, we’ll hang out, have dinner together, bring the family over, enjoy each other. But if we don’t see eye to eye on something, then we won’t do that project — period.”

System Of A Down‘s return to stadiums comes after years of scattered festival appearances. Tankian said his health had previously made touring difficult, citing back surgery and recovery, but he is now “physically stronger” and ready for the run.

Reflecting on the band’s recent one-off festival appearances, Tankian said: “It wasn’t by design. For years, personally, I didn’t wanna tour at all. But then we did one Sick New World show in Las Vegas, and we all had a blast. It wasn’t a tour… It was just one show — go out on a weekend, take your families and have a good time. And that made us step back and go, ‘This is what we need to be doing. If we’re gonna be doing it, this is the right way of doing it for us.'”

Despite the renewed touring schedule of System Of A Down, Tankian remains firm: a new System Of A Down album will only happen if the band’s vision aligns. “It’s purely creative,” he said. “When we feel it’s right, we’ll do it.”