Watch System Of A Down Frontman Serj Tankian Perform With The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra

System Of A Down have always been rather loudly proud of their Armenian heritage, now frontman Serj Tankian has teamed up with The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra for a live performance of his solo single Empty Walls. 

The performance took place in Yerevan, Armenia over the weekend as part of Tankian's appearance at the Starmus Festival.

Empty Walls appears on Tankian's 2007 debut solo full-length Elect The Dead.

The Empty Walls performance follows Tankian's release of an Armenian language protest song Amber in June.

In 2020, System Of A Down raised over $600,000 after releasing their first new music after a 15-year hiatus. The heavy metal legends surprised fans when releasing Protect The Land and Genocidal Humanoidz, saying they were motivated by the "recently-erupted conflict in Artsakh and Azerbaijan to release new music to raise awareness & funds to aid the people of Artsakh and Armenia".  All proceeds made from the tracks went towards the humanitarian organization, the Armenia Fund.

In February, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson revealed that she's a big System Of A Down fan! Andersson let her love for the Armenian-American metal act slip during a chat with a Swedish national rock radio station Bandit Rock. 

Responding to a question about her music tastes asked by breakfast hosts Bollnäs-Martin and Richie Puzz  Andersson responds,

“When it comes to rock, it’s System of A Down.” Bollnäs-Martin was audibly rather pleasantly surprised by her choice, prompting the first female Prime Minister in Sweden's history to double down on her love of System Of A Down with a heartfelt and simply stated confirmation.

“Yes, they are really awesome!” Listen to the brief interview here.  System Of A Down's second studio album, Toxicity turned 20 last year. 

A genuinely game-changing record, featuring a fusion of metal and alternative sounds with folk, progressive rock, jazz, and traditional Armenian and greek musical stylings, Toxicity blasted the American-Armenian alt/nu-metal band to unforeseeable mainstream prominence.

A commercial and critical success,  the album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Charts and has sold over 12 million units worldwide. It remains one of the most unique and immediately identifiable metal albums of all time. Toxicity's politicized lyrics focussing on mass incarceration, environmental terrorism, police brutality, scientific reductionism, drug addiction and questionable actions of the CIA,  inspired a new generation of activists in the metal scene, educating a generation of metalheads while simultaneously creating controversy that helped keep the album at the forefront of the alternative music press.