A couple of months after releasing their first new music in 15 years, System of a Down have shared a poignant video for “Genocidal Humanoidz.” The visuals blend footage of the band performing with an animated story showing Armenian resilience and were directed by SOAD’s Shavo Odadjian and Deep Sky Animation’s Adam Mason.
In the clip, a young boy visits the ruins of a wartorn village. Demons begin materializing, but so do forget-me-nots (the symbol of the Armenian genocide centennial). With the help of fellow townspeople, he’s able to extinguish the evil.
The video premiered during a livestream to raise funds for rehabilitation efforts for Armenian soldiers suffering from traumatic injuries. Before the event, SOAD had already raised $600,000 for the Armenia Fund, and at the time of writing the fundraiser had collected more than $250,000 in additional contributions. Watch the “Genocidal Humanoidz” video and full livestream below.
Though the band has seen some inner struggles, Odadjian recently said he’ll never quit the band.
“Even when we disbanded for a little while in ’05, ’06, I’m always a supporter,” he told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I’m always on the side of like, this needs to be going on forever. We never will call it quits. I will refuse. I don’t care. I’ll refuse if anyone else does, we’re calling it quits. I’m not going to call it quits. As long as we’re all still alive, we’re going to be the unit that we are. I am still in. I think I’ll always be in. Look, I’m 47 years old. This has been a part of my life more so than not. We started when I was 21. The majority of my life, this is involved. I’ve worked my heart out for this and so has everyone else.”
