System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who recorded the song “Patterns” together in 2000, have reunited for a new song that will help raise money for imperiled Armenians, the Rolling Stone reports.
The tune was the brainchild of Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson Brands. Gueikian, an Argentine member of the Armenian diaspora, teamed with Tankian and Iommi on a new song, “Deconstruction,” that’s coming out under the banner of the Gibson Band via Gibson Records as a charity single. The tune is a six-minute descent into psychedelic doom metal that finds Tankian singing about “deconstruction of the human mind” while Gueikian plays meaty riffs and Iommi slices through it all with a wah-wah–inflected, bluesy solo. One hundred percent of the money the song makes will go to Armenia Fund’s Artsakh Refugee Initiative, which provides aid to Armenians displaced following Azerbaijan’s 2020 invasion.
“We asked ourselves how to use this song to bring awareness to Armenia and the Armenian situation and raise funds for Armenia,” Gueikian told the Rolling Stone. “In addition to making music, Serj is an activist in service to Armenia, and Tony has ties to Armenia because many years ago, he was part of a group that funded a music school there. So the three of us have pledged any income the song makes to go to Armenia through the Armenia Fund.”
Gibson has also built a unique Les Paul Special that sports Tankian’s painting, Our Mountains, which depicts Armenia’s beloved Mount Ararat and is selling via Julien’s Auctions. Corporación América, owned by Argentine billionaire and Armenian diaspora member Eduardo Eurnekian, and the Eurnekian family are matching the funds the endeavor raises.
“Because it was Armenia Fund, I thought it appropriate to donate a painting called Our Mountains, which refers to the two mountains of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed,” Tankian told Rolling Stone over Zoom. “It’s one of the symbols of Armenia and our culture and history. … [Armenia Fund] is one of the recipients of System of a Down’s donations from the two songs we did in 2020 during the war with Azerbaijan. They help with the rehabilitation of veterans.”
