Scars On Broadway

Without Serj Tankian, fellow System of a Downers Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan don't churn out a half-baked SOAD album. Instead, Scars On Broadway put the Metallica records aside to get their inspiration from classic rock, new wave and industrial mavericks. While there are plenty of System-influenced spaz-brake-spaz arrangements, shaky angel turned devil harmonies and talk of drugs, suicide and society's collapse, Scars pull a sort of Black Album on SOAD fans: Snaking, dark melodies on "Insane" and "Babylon" and EBM beats on "Chemicals" and "Enemy" rule their more accessible sound.

When you've made your name and fortune on fierce weirdness, the most drastic thing you
can do is flaunt some restraint. In System of a Down, singer-guitarist Daron Malakian's bright
yelp was already the more normal voice next to Serj Tankian's operatic harangue. But as
Scars on Broadway, with System drummer John Dolmayan, Malakian shaves System's
punk-dervish and metallic-vengeance extremes into straight-on rock glazed wit... More >