System of a Down have released their first new songs in 15 years, as Rolling Stone points out. Listen to “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz”—which follow 2005’s Mezmerize and Hypnotize LPs—below. Proceeds from the songs, which are also available on Bandcamp, will go to the Armenia Fund. The band, who are all of Armenian descent, write on Bandcamp that the songs “speak of a dire and serious war being perpetrated upon our cultural homelands of Artsakh and Armenia.”
They continue: “On September 27, the combined forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey (along with Isis terrorists from Syria) attacked the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which we as Armenians call Artsakh. For over the past month, civilians young and old have been awakened day and night by the frightful sights and sounds of rocket attacks, falling bombs, missiles, drones and terrorist attacks. They’ve had to find sanctuary in makeshift shelters, trying to avoid the fallout of outlawed cluster bombs raining down on their streets and homes, hospitals and places of worship. Their attackers have set their forests and endangered wildlife ablaze using white phosphorus, another banned weapon.”
Read more on the band’s Bandcamp page. Numerous international outlets, including The New York Times and the BBC, also cover the conflict.
Read Pitchfork’s Sunday Review of Toxicity.