The colored vinyl still sounds good in 7.1 surround… Photo courtesy Coming Age
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This review was delayed due to flooding in the Coming Age Recorders room. I have been doing ALL the remediation by myself. As a result of that, I have ingested copious amounts of mold (all the colors of the mold rainbow, White, Green and Black) and became seriously ill. Thanks to some dubious medical care, I have (finally) gotten better and am returning to reviewing full speed ahead. I do apologize for falling off the radar, but, it’s tough to listen, hear and discern when all you can hear is a constant ring in your head (in the key of G). Not an excuse, a reason. Now on to Scars on Broadway!
Where is all the good music these days? With the music industry in the turmoil that it currently festers within, truly talented artists languish behind less talented artists who have what the industry calls ‘The Look’, meaning, ‘we’ll fix their crappy vocals with autotune, ProTools, harmonizers, vocal processors, etc.’. Now one would think the record companies would want to get less attractive artists (so to speak) who can spend less time in a studio and thus cost less. But in their infinite wisdom, they want attractive people who spend hours of studio time (cost) so they can market them more easily. Screw talent, their face appeals to the common denominator.
Fortunately, right before that mindset (the American Idol/Got Talent mindset) a group of Armenian gentlemen started a speed-thrash metal group out of L.A. called System Of A Down. They have about five albums out, each is worth the purchase price. Speed metal about Armenian Genocide, you can’t beat it.
However…
System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan more or less recently let it slip that he is not expecting a recording reunion of the band anytime soon. Singer Serj Tankian is busy with his activist work trying to get the United States as well as other countries to recognize the Armenian Genocide that was executed by the Turkish in the early 1900’s. It was May 1915 when the Ottoman Empire started hauling in those in (Old World) Constantinople and sent them to Ankara. All in all, just shy of 275 Armenian intellects and civic leaders were systematically rounded up, arrested, and deported to Turkey where they were executed. The exact numbers of the genocide are always in flux by a few hundred.
Now for Tankian, this is no ‘charity for the sake of a tax break’ cause for him. Or any other member of System Of A Down (SOAD). You see, for those of you who aren’t knowing of SOAD, all four members, Dolmayan, Tankian, bassist Shavo Odajian and guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian are all of Armenian descent (Dolmayan being born in Beirut to Armenian parents) and have a passion about making the world accept that yes, that genocide was real and it was perpetrated by the Turkish. The United States needs to recognize and deal with that fact since the country is all ‘tariff this and tariff that, sanctions here, sanctions there’, why not sanction a country that deserves/requires it, as opposed to picking fights at summit meetings? Because The Great Orange Leader (TGOL) doesn’t like dealing with women such as Merkel and May, and is jealous of Macron’s popularity in France, as well as other petty grudges throughout the G8-20. ‘Tis better to sanction those who were our allies years ago in order to obtain and propagate crude oil, than to use sanctions and tariffs to uphold what is decent, what is honest, what is true, what is law… Not to mention Turkey’s recent accusation that the US (TGOL) ‘stabbed an ally in the back’. Then there’s the whole Khashoggi issue. Turkey is tough, so that puts the Armenian cause squarely in the underdog position…
This is where Malakian steps in.
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