System of a Down Frontman Serj Tankian Says New Album Rumors Are “Not True”

System of a Down remain a hot topic of discussion as rumors swirl over a potential new album and disagreements inside the band.

While the band reunited in 2011, and have been touring sporadically since, their last new album came via 2005’s Mezmerize/Hypnotize. Frontman Serj Tankian has been busy with his own projects, including four new solo albums that include symphony he wrote and a jazz collaboration with former The Police drummer Stewart Copeland. Vocalist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan have also put out their own material via the band Scars on Broadway, and have done occasional shows following the release of their 2008 self-titled debut.

System of a Down announced back in March that they would start work on a new album when the time was right, then Tankian released statement in May that they were still not ready to put together another record. That same month, bassist Shavo Odadjian began stirring things up by saying in since-deleted Facebook posts that Tankian was “holding us back” and asked fans what they thought of hiring a new lead singer. System of a Down then posted a statement on their website calling Odadjian’s actions “a temporary state of bad judgment on his part alone.”

The band remained together, and as you can see at the 2:29 mark in the following clip, from the band’s set at LA’s Hollywood Bowl on July 29th, Dolmayan steps to the mic and shouts, “Next time we come back here, we’ll have a new fucking album!”

NME reports that Tankian has now reconfirmed, during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, that no new album is in the works, however. It seems only time will tell for the next System of a Down recording.