Scars on Broadway (album)

Scars on Broadway
Studio album by Scars on Broadway
Released	July 29, 2008
Recorded	2007-2008 Sunset Sound Studios Los Angeles, CA Steakhouse Studio North Hollywood, CA
Genre	Alternative metal, experimental rock, avant-garde metal, heavy metal, progressive metal
Length	45:04 48:44 (Japan) 50:42 (iTunes) 51:08 (Best Buy/UK)
Label	Interscope
Producer	Daron Malakian
Scars on Broadway chronology
Ghetto Blaster Rehearsals (2003) Scars on Broadway (2008)
Singles from Scars on Broadway
"They Say" Released: March 28, 2008[1] "World Long Gone" Released: September 8, 2008

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(73%)[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	(66%)[3]
Allmusic	[4]
The Aquarian Weekly	(C-)[5]
Kerrang!
Rock Sound
Rolling Stone

Scars on Broadway is the debut album by Scars on Broadway, a band consisting of System of a Down members Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan. The album contains fifteen tracks, all written by Malakian.

The album opened at #17 on the Billboard 200 with 24,000 copies.^[6]

As of April 2010, the album has sold 83,000 copies in the US.^[7]

Album

Writing and recording process

On what direction his album will take, Malakian states:

"It will probably be something very heavy mixed in with traditional Armenian and thrash, death, doom, black and dark metal influences. When, or even if, the music comes out, it will still be structured, just like System of a Down's music is."

This electronic idea was demonstrated in all 2005 concerts in which Malakian, instead of merely singing the chorus to the song "Sugar" or "War?," as well as "Old School Hollywood" from Mezmerize, distorted his voice electronically with a Vocoder. Daron, in a recent interview, has said that the sound will be influenced by classic rock such as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Yes, Neil Young, and Roxy Music. Malakian has shifted his songwriting away from SOAD's frazzled metal to more song-based work. "I don't feel we're the mosh-pit band," says Malakian. "That's just where I'm comfortable as a writer right now."

Scars on Broadway began recording on September 27, 2007. For the recording of their debut album, the two will be "accompanied by some great musicians."^[8] On December 6, 2007, the drum tracks for the album had been finished and the band moved into the next stage of recording.^[9] On July 25, the band released a teaser for the album featuring the song "Babylon"^[10]

The band has released "They Say" as their first airplay single. It was accompanied by a video that was shot and released in late June.^[11]

The song "Enemy" contains a part of the System of a Down song unofficially referred to as "Drugs", a live-only song that Daron would often play in between songs.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Daron Malakian. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Serious"	2:08
2.	"Funny"	2:55
3.	"Exploding/Reloading"	2:15
4.	"Stoner Hate"	2:00
5.	"Insane"	3:07
6.	"World Long Gone"	3:16
7.	"Kill Each Other/Live Forever"	3:05
8.	"Babylon"	3:56
9.	"Chemicals"	3:13
10.	"Enemy"	3:03
11.	"Universe"	4:15
12.	"3005"	2:54
13.	"Cute Machines"	3:03
14.	"Whoring Streets"	3:01
15.	"They Say"	2:48

Japanese Edition
No.	Title	Length
16.	"Hungry Ghost"	3:29

iTunes Edition
No.	Title	Length
16.	"Scars on Broadway" (Instrumental)	2:50
17.	"They Say" (Music Video / Pre-Order Only)	2:48

Best Buy Bonus DVD / UK Edition
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Making of "They Say" (video)	3:10
2.	"They Say" (music video)	2:54

Charts

Charts (2008)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	43
Swedish Albums Chart	54
German Albums Chart	23
UK Albums Chart	41
Billboard 200	17
Austrian Albums Chart	22
Finnish Albums Chart	14
French Albums Chart	88
Dutch Albums Chart	83
New Zealand Albums Chart	26
Swiss Albums Chart	58

Personnel

Scars on Broadway is:

• Daron Malakian — vocals, guitars, bass guitars, keyboards/organs/mellotrons
• John Dolmayan — drums

• Produced by: Daron Malakian
• Engineered by: Dave Schiffman
• Additional Engineering and Editing by: John Silas Cranfield
• Recorded @ Sunset Sound Studios: North Hollywood, CA
• Assisted by: Clifton Allen
• Additional Recording @ Steakhouse Studio: North Hollywood, CA
• Mixed by: Ryan Williams @ Pulse Recording: Los Angeles, CA
• Mastered by: Eddy Schreyer @ Oasis Mastering: Burbank, CA
• Worldwide Representation: Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group
• Legal Representation: Jon Blaufarb
• Business Management: David Weise & Jacob Jackel for David Weise & Associates, Inc.
• A&R for Interscope: Martin Kierszenbaum and Ben Gordon
• Additional Performances by: Franky Perez and Danny Shamoun
• Artwork by Vartan Malakian
• Cover and Inlay Art by Sandra Cand
• Package Design by Brandy Flower

References

1. ^ They Say Digital release on May 27 2008 :: SOADFans :: The Official UnOfficial System Of a Down Site!
2. ^ "Scars on Broadway". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/scars-on-broadway. 
3. ^ "Scars on Broadway - Scars on Broadway - Album Review". AbsolutePunk. http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=526681. 
4. ^ "Scars on Broadway - Scars on Broadway". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1407097. 
5. ^ "Scars On Broadway: Scars On Broadway". The Aquarian Weekly. http://www.theaquarian.com/2008/07/23/scars-on-broadway-scars-on-broadway/. 
6. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=102272
7. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=138438&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blabbermouth+(Blabbermouth.net%27s+Daily+Headlines)&utm_content=Twitter
8. ^ Scars on Broadway website
9. ^ Scars on Broadway (System of a Down) Announce Live Debut
10. ^ YouTube - Scars On Broadway - Babylon Album Teaser
11. ^ Scars on Broadway to release a new single July 8 :: SOADFans :: The Official UnOfficial System Of a Down Site!