“Cigaro” by System of a Down

"Cigaro" comes from Mezmerize, the fourth System of a Down album and the first half of the Mezmerize/Hypnotize double album, out in 2005 on American Recordings and Columbia. It's a Daron Malakian song through and through: he wrote the music, co-wrote the words with Serj Tankian, plays the guitar and trades vocals with Tankian, which is the whole story of that record, the guitarist stepping up to split the mic.

Malakian also co-produced it with Rick Rubin, while Shavo Odadjian holds down the bass and John Dolmayan rounds out the lineup. Andy Wallace mixed it, with David Schiffman and John O'Mahony engineering. It's the sound of a band letting its guitarist grab the wheel and floor it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.