While it’s a well-worn topic for him at this point, System Of A Down guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian has once again discussed the inclusion of his aforementioned multi-platinum outfit in the nü-metal scene. Speaking with Metal Hammer, Malakian reflected on that scene and his band’s place in the hierarchy of it, offering:
“We were lucky that there was a scene. We were able to play, and play in front of audiences that came to see those other bands. But I don’t think anybody sounds like we did. I don’t think we felt like we didn’t belong and I don’t feel like we did belong.
But there’s so many fucking genres and then there are subgenres of the subgenre, it just gets lost. System Of A Down and Scars, that’s what I do. I don’t look at what other bands are doing and say, ‘Well, I’ve got to do that to fit in with those guys.’ But for some reason we fit into that whole [nü-metal] thing. That’s just the time that we existed.”
He went on to say:
“I’ll say one thing about the original nü-metal bands – Deftones, Korn, all the ones that were the first, and add us to that list – they were all doing something unique. We were all the kids that grew up listening to Metallica and Slayer, all that fucking thrash stuff, but we weren’t copying it. We were taking that influence and we were bringing in other things, other influences, and creating something new with that heavy sound. All those copy bands, I don’t give a shit about any of them. The ones that came out and started their own thing and did their own thing, those bands deserve credit.”
Malakian released a third studio album, “Addicted To The Violence“, from his Scars On Broadway project earlier this month on July 18th.
