System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan has made his frustrations known in the past about SOAD’s sixth studio album. Twelve years after Hypnotize debuted and hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, we still have no new System to bounce along to. In a new interview, Dolmayan lays out the current internal workings of System, claiming the new jams they’ve been working on “match or beat anything” they’ve done before.

It hasn’t just been a long 12 years for fans; John Dolmayan seems to be getting impatient as well. During a 2014 interview with Loudwire, Dolmayan shared he was “not really happy with where the band is right now,” exclaiming the Armenian-American foursome needed to start creating again. As of November 2016, SOAD are officially working on their sixth album, but it seems like progress is coming along slower than Dolmayan would like.

“In our band, the difficulty really isn’t is one of us gonna fall off the wagon or get into a bad situation. It’s really a matter of are we gonna come together and make something happen," Dolmayan tells 107.5 Las Vegas. "I had rehearsal last night in L.A. and I drove right out … I don’t know. I don’t know why we aren’t coming out with an album. It’s very disheartening.”

Dolmayan also shot down speculation of tension between band members being the primary cause of System’s slow momentum. “The funny thing is we all get into the studio, everybody’s getting along great. We have a blast on the road,” Dolmayan shares. “If I had my way we would have put out five albums in the last twelve years. And I think we’re really doing a disservice to ourselves cause you only have a finite amount of time, you know? If anything, Chris Cornell passing away unexpectedly, at any given moment, it does put things into perspective and you realize how much time you wasted.”

As for the music SOAD have conjured up so far? Dolmayan says it’s damn good! “We’ve been in the studio for the past year and we’ve put together about fifteen songs so far that I think match or beat anything we’ve done in the past,” the drummer says. “I don’t make those kinds of claims without having something to back it up. We’re better than we’ve ever been, we’re tighter than we’ve ever been, we know what we’re doing and the songs are there.”

We’ll be waiting, System! For all your SOAD album updates and news on the 21st century metal titans, stay tuned to Loudwire.

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