Vocal ANALYSIS of System Of A Down for the FIRST TIME!

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Fun story: years ago I used to bounce for a very, nationally reputable venue. SoaD came and I was working the barricade so I was less than 6-feet from Serj for the whole performance. He had the flu that night but wanted to carry on. The show went great, they sounded great, and the next day, I came down with the flu. Serj gave me the flu. 🤣

I love seeing music professionals listening to, appreciating and explaining why the music i've listened to for 20 years isn't "just loud noises". please tell my parents.

SOAD is unironically one of the best bands of the 2000's. Mixing eastern scales and musical influence into harder heavy guitar was wayyyyy ahead of its time. Plus Serj has an incredible warm operatic voice which blends perfectly with Darron's voice which is more high tension and almost nasal.

The lyrics are about the cycle of existence. "Life is a waterfall." Before we get to the cliff we are one being flowing together, we are "one with the river." Then we separate into individual drops of water as we fall. The journey down is life. We live in the air during the fall, twisting, turning, dancing. An aerial is an acrobatic maneuver done in the sky. We are not acrobats in the sky, we are the maneuvers themselves. At the bottom, we hit water again and remember being a river. We become one again. I didn't get this read of it until 20 years of journeying later. I wonder if anyone else notices that songs they didn't totally understand but were moved by now make perfect sense.

Serj's vocals still gives me chills after almost 20 years listening to them

I love Elizabeth's boundless enthusiasm, open mindedness, and general appreciation of music. It's a real joy to watch, very genuine and infectious.

Imagine growing up with this insanely unique sound and not getting an album since 2005. It's actually depressing. I talk to my wife all the time about how I could die a happy man if I got another full SOAD album.

I think the "Beethoven sound" she was referring to is really the key. They really like their minor harmonic keys, It gives them their very unique middle eastern twang to their instrumental sounds and complements Serj's singing style. Their music is very cool cuz of the small nuances of it.

Serj uses a middle eastern form of singing, being from the Armenian region. You get many hints of historical singing techniques from the area. Thats why often sounds strange or "twangy". It's his native tongue and most of their songs are about geopolitical problems and very deep topics that involve many countries and oppression throughout history. Incredible man. Golden voice.

It's hard to go wrong with song choice. Toxicity, BYOB, Sugar (explicit), Spiders. A more obscure favorite of mine is "Suggestions," from their first album.

SOAD is arguably the most unique band of our generation. That's why everyone loves them of all walks of life. Because they don't sound like the every-band of today

What I always liked about SoaD was how Serj and Darron can go from screaming to singing normally in their songs. The dynamic is really cool to hear. Big reason why I always liked Linkin Park too. Chester did the same thing.

Daron is such an underappreciated vocalist himself. "Lonely Day" wouldn't have been as powerful (or beautiful) with just Serj's vocals.

I can’t count the amount of times I’ve heard this song but her bringing up Beethoven completely blew my mind.

I just want to say, it makes me feel so good to hear you analyze the bands I grew up listening too. When I was young, 99% of adults did not understand this music. To hear a professional explain the intricacies, sort of validates what I felt when I was a kid. Thank you for making these videos.

These guys are muscle geniuses in my opinion. No one else sounds like them, they don't get the recognition they desire as probably the most creative band of the 2000s.

Their Toxicity album is a masterpiece of an album. Seriously, one of the all around best albums from start to finish.

Anthony Bourdain did a episode on his show “Parts Unknown” exploring the foods of Armenia with Serj as a co-host. Serj gets really in depth with the history of the Armenians, their genocide they endured, and how it all influenced their music. Truly an eye opening view into the roots of SOAD and where they truly came from.

I love how she's not a metal head yet her reaction is exactly the same as metalheads when we hear something this good for the first time lol. When she heard the harmonization at the end I completely understood