System Of A Down‘s Shavo Odadjian has launched his brand new project Seven Hours After Violet with the gnarly new single ‘Paradise’.
The bassist has unveiled the new five-piece band, which consists of Odjajian, Taylor Barber from Left To Suffer on vocals, Alejandro Aranda from Scarypoolparty on guitar/backing vocals, with Morgoth and Josh Johnson from Winds of Plague on guitar/production and drums respectively.
Speaking about the new song, Odadjian says ‘Paradise’ “showcases the various dynamics we explore throughout, which makes it the perfect introduction to Seven Hours After Violet.”
“I’ve been making music for over 30 years, and I wanted to do something super heavy but melodic and come back to my roots,” he continued. “Until this band, every side project I’ve done has been outside the walls of heavy music. I steered away from anything heavy because System Of A Down is heavy. Once I started with Seven Hours After Violet, I had to let go of that. I said, “let me go with my gut and do what I’m best at.
“For the first time ever in my career, I just said, “as long as I love it, I don’t give a fuck what anybody else thinks,” and that was extremely liberating. Seven Hours After Violet is the result. It’s my favourite thing I’ve done since System, and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.” Take a listen to ‘Paradise’ below:
The news also coincides with Odadjian’s announcement of his new label 1336 Records, which he said “gives me a lot of creative control and also the ability to bring other acts that I find interesting on board later in the future, so I’m really excited about that.”
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The label will be launched in partnership with the Sumerian Music Group. Speaking about the joint venture, CEO Ash Avildsen said: “System of a Down is one of the most important and influential bands of my generation, as well as one of my all-time favourites. When I first heard Shavo was putting together a group of young cutting-edge musicians around him to form a new band, I immediately got excited just as a fan to hear what it was.
“After a first listen of Seven Hours After Violet and seeing who the metal group of Avengers he assembled around him to play in it, I knew it had to be on Sumerian. So I pursued it hard and after one epic lunch together at the Sunset Marquis, Shavo and I were creative business partners ready to unleash the next great thing in heavy music together.
“I am humbled and honoured he has chosen to team up with Sumerian to launch Seven Hours After Violet and 1336.”
Recently, NME spoke to System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian about his memoir Down With The System, where he shared his thoughts on boycotts and the current Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 in response to its occupation of Palestinian territories, killing 1,189 people. Israel’s ongoing operations in the interim have killed 37,702 Palestinians [via Al Jazeera].
Though he pointed to the way activism is “taken hostage” by “certain fringe elements of society”, Tankian told NME he believed most activists have good intentions. He also went on to suggest Israel’s president Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.
“It’s important for the youth to raise their voice, because we are not living in a just world,” Tankian said. “I think in some cases, pure activism is taken hostage by certain fringe elements of society, including in the US – certain anti-Semites who have gotten into that world. However, I think the majority of the activists and their intentions are pure, and I think what they’re doing is important.
He continued: “In terms of the Hamas invasion of Israel, I want to say that was obviously a terrorist act and they are war criminals and deserve to be punished. But, the Netanyahu government’s response is also – as we can see with the number of civilians that have died – a war crime.”
In other news, Deftones are most popular metal band during sex, while Nine Inch Nails ranks top among BDSM enthusiasts, a study has shown.