Serj Tankian announces the release of his philosophical memoir “Down With the System” in May

Frontman Serj Tankian of System of a Down has announced the release of his new memoir, titled Down with the System, early in next year.

Tankian announced the memoir in a post to his social media accounts with the caption, “Boom! – I wrote a new book. I had a blast working on this accidentally hatched philosophical memoir as it’s given me the unique opportunity to deep dive into my family history, my own motivations from a young age and lessons I didn’t know I had learned.”

According to the publisher’s website, Tankian’s book will be “far more than just a rock ‘n’ roll fable” when it is published by Hachette Books on May 14 of the following year.

describing the book as “an immigrant’s tale, it’s an activist’s awakening, and it’s a spiritual journey from darkness towards light”. Pre-orders for the hardcover edition, as well as the digital and audiobook versions, are now open for $30.00.

In August of this year, Tankian urged the American rock group Imagine Dragons to postpone their September performance in Baku, Azerbaijan. Using social media, Tankian noted that the “petro-oligarchic dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan was starving 120k people in Nagorno-Karabagh,” adding that the scenario has been dubbed “genocide” by a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Tankian disclosed that he had personally pleaded with the band but had received no response. “As the humanitarian crisis worsens in Nagorno-Karabagh with starvation already being recorded I am forced to publicise this letter and their disregard for this humanitarian catastrophe. Maybe they felt they had a legal liability to play the show, maybe they just don’t care,” he wrote.