Independent review

While the new System of a down album got lost in the pains of creativity, the guitarist and second vocalist of SOAD released his second solo album this time without Dolmayan, playing on all instruments in 10 days. The previous debut record was an event for all immersed music lovers on the level of the best works of SOAD. From the new one, I expected a lot. On Dictator, there is not such a quantity of tracks as on the first one, but from this, it does not become boring. There is no enchanting variety, but no problems with ideas are observed either. No nu-metal, pure alternative rock with elements of heavy and thrash. You must hear at least five things if you follow the trends in rock music: Lives, Angry Guru, Dictator, Never forget, We won't obey + a killer cover of Assimilate. Malakian has no fundamentally new ideas, but he does music in a most skillful way that hardly anyone will dare call outdated, at the same time old-school rockers will not spit at newfangled currents. Already on the first SOAD albums, it was clear that Malakian had no shortage of riffs and melodies, so on Dictator, he has something to please you with, even if the composition as a whole does not shine. Daron's vocals have become even more diverse and there is absolutely no sadness about the absence of Tankian. And Malakian was the main author in SOAD too, so everything here meets expectations. It seems the pains of creativity are about System of a down, Daron succeeds perfectly in driving and simpler compositions of Scars, but they are hardly suitable for SOAD. If Dictator yields to the debut, it is only a little, and you are obliged to listen to it if you are interested in the alternative scene. Modern and already classic.

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