System of a Down (sometimes abbreviated as SOAD or System ) is an American rock band from California. Formed in 1994, the group is currently composed of four members, all with Armenian origins: Daron Malakian, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian, and John Dolmayan. Coming from the Californian underground scene, the group met its first major success with the release of its first album of the same name in 1998. The release of Toxicity in 2001, the band's first album to reach the top spot of the Billboard 200, popularized System of a Down on the national and international scene. Due to the diversity of its influences and its tendency towards experimentation, the musical style of System of a Down remains difficult to classify. Deeply influenced by progressive rock, the band's musical style is characterized by guitar riffs, melodious vocals, unusual sound structures, and a strong experimental approach. The words of System of a Down, often dadaist and indirect, reveal the political commitment of the group, which castigates war, the consumer society and globalization. His committed words have made the group the bearer of great causes, including the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, an issue addressed in some of his songs. The group has had considerable commercial success with the release of its five studio albums, three of them having reached the top spot of the Billboard 200. System of a Down is nominated for four Grammy Awards, and in 2006 it won the best hard rock performance with the single BYOB . The training is scheduled to pause in August 2006. The band members then embark on parallel projects: Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan form the alternative metal band Scars on Broadway, Serj Tankian embarks on a solo career marked by the release of five studio albums to date, while Shavo Odadjian founded Achozen with rapper RZA. The group announces its meeting in November 2010 after four years of collective musical inactivity, with a three-year world tour, performing at many of the world's most prestigious rock festivals, including Rock in Rio, Rock am Ring and Download Festival. System of a Down then plans another tour in 2015, the Wake Up The Souls Tour, on the occasion of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian study at the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School while they are still children, but because of their difference in age of 8, they do not meet until 1992, when they work on different musical projects in the same recording studio>. It was with their meeting that they decided to form a group called Soil. Tankian is on vocals and keyboards, Malakian is in vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who will later perform in The Apex Theory and Mt. Helium) is on bass and Domingo " Dingo " Laranio plays the drums. The newly formed group asks Shavo Odadjian, another student at Rose and Alex Pilibos School, to become their manager, which he accepts (before eventually joining Soil as a rhythm guitarist). In 1994, after 2 years of existence, a single concert and a jam session having been recorded, Hakopyan and Laranio decide to leave the group, no longer appreciating the atmosphere of the band. Nevertheless, consciously or not, the name Soil does not quite disappear, since it will give its name to the seventh track of the album System of a Down.
