Serj Tankian has popped up on the new O.R.k. track 'Black Blooms'

While most of us are sitting here patiently for a new System of a Down album (some of us here at Wall of Sound are a bit impatient it seems), we can't help get excited whenever a new song pops up with SOAD frontman Serj Tankian, and that's what happened when the new O.R.k. track landed in our inbox. The band is made up of producer/vocalist/film composer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, King Crimson's drummer Pat Mastelotto, Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin and Marta Sui Tubi's Carmelo Pipitone on guitars.

The band teaming up with Serj happened pretty naturally when it was recommended he check out their sound, he loved it so much he had to be part of one of their upcoming projects according to bassist Colin Edwin:

“The involvement of Serj Tankian came about through legendary producer Bill Laswell, who played bass on Lef's 2018 solo album ‘Hypersomniac’. Laswell passed a copy of ‘Hypersomniac’ to Serj, who was impressed enough to also check out O.R.k. and our previous two albums. This led directly to Lef and Serj connecting and discussing potentially collaborating at some point; it was just at the time we were working on ‘Ramagehead’, so of course a suggestion had to be made. Lef sent him the tracks as a ‘work in progress’ and from this, Serj himself chose "Black Blooms" as the song he wished to sing and work with us on.”

The end result is 'Black Bloom', a poetic, slow jam balladesque track with a hard rock climax. If you go into it not expecting a heavy, fast-paced metal song, chance are you may enjoy it for what it is. The song is from the forthcoming album Ramagehead which gets released on February 22 via KScope. Check a pre-order here if you're keen.

If it's not, maybe best to go back to not holding your breath for a new System album...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEJleqOXiuw&w=853&h=480]