System OF

System of a Down (sometimes abbreviated to SOAD or System) is an American rock band from California. Formed in 1994, the band currently consists of four members, all of Armenian descent: Daron Malakian, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian, and John Dolmayan. Emerging from the Californian underground scene, the band achieved its first major success with the release of its self-titled debut album in 1998. The release of Toxicity in 2001, the band's first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, popularised System of a Down on both national and international stages.

Due to the diversity of its influences and its tendency towards experimentation, System of a Down's musical style remains difficult to classify. Clearly influenced by progressive rock, the band's musical style is characterised by guitar riffs, melodic vocals, unusual sound structures, and a marked experimental approach. System of a Down's lyrics, often Dadaist and indirect, reveal the band's political commitment, denouncing war, consumer society, and globalisation. Its engaged lyrics have made the band a standard-bearer for major causes, notably the recognition of the Armenian genocide, an issue addressed in some of its songs.

The band has achieved considerable commercial success with the release of its five studio albums, three of which have reached number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and won the Best Hard Rock Performance award in 2006 with the single B.Y.O.B.. The band announced a hiatus in August 2006. The band members then embarked on parallel projects: Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan formed the alternative metal band Scars on Broadway, Serj Tankian launched a solo career marked by the release of five studio albums to date, while Shavo Odadjian founded Achozen with rapper RZA. The band announced its reunion in November 2010 after four years of collective musical inactivity, planning a three-year world tour, performing at numerous prestigious rock festivals, including Rock in Rio, Rock am Ring, and Download Festival. System of a Down then planned another tour in 2015, the Wake Up The Souls Tour, to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide. System of a Down made another comeback in 2020, 15 years after the release of their last album, with two new politically charged tracks, in reaction to the wars occurring in Nagorno-Karabakh.