Photo by Travis Shinn

Daron Malakian has announced the first new Scars On Broadway album since 2018's Dictator. Returning from an epic South American stadium tour that saw record crowds and unfathomable chaos in the streets with System of A Down, Malakian has harnessed that momentum to pivot to his passion project in Scars on Broadway. 

Addicted to the Violence serves as the third full length studio effort from Malakian and SoB. The album arrives July 18th and builds on the already celebrated catalogs of one of rock music's most distinct and definitive contributors. Introducing the album, Malakian has shared the first single in the aggressive, eqally agitating  track, "Killing Spree". 

“It’s a taboo topic people might be afraid to talk about,” Malakian prefaced of the track. “Kids have rebelled forever. Mental disorders have always been there too. In the last 15 years, we’ve seen a generation that will walk into school and kill other students. I’m not glamorizing or advocating it. I’m just saying, ‘The kids are on a fucking killing spree.’ It’s what I see in front of me."

Malakian further eaborated on the depravity that drives the track. "I’m not just talking about killings either. You’ll see a lady who’s getting beaten up on the subway and people around her aren’t even helping; they’re fucking recording on their iPhones. We had automatic weapons fifty years ago, and nobody was doing this. I blame the mindset. We now have a generation that is so detached and desensitized. They’re totally unemotional and unempathetic. There’s no respect for life.”

As the project's driving force, Malakian has spent the last few years fleshing out the ideas that would eventually become Addicted to the Violence. Along with collaborators Orbel Babayan on guitar and Roman Lomtadze on drums, Scars on Broadway serves as an extension of Malakian's artistry and reflects his dedication to the craft. 

Malakian further shared of the album, “I’m always writing songs, because it’s the only way I know how to live. It’s my purpose. When I write, I try to stay honest. I don’t put myself in a box, which is why you have both heavy and mid-tempo material. It takes you through different feelings, and that’s what I’ve always done. If I was a painter, I wouldn’t tell myself, ‘I can’t use these colors.’ So, all the colors are available to me. All the emotions are also available, because we go through each one of them as people. I’m expressing everything I can.”

Check the track listing and artwork, designed by Vartan Malakian (Daron's father) below. Addicted to the Violence arrives July 18th. Order the album - HERE