System of a Down Drummer Promises New Album Next Time Band Plays L.A. [Video]

System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan made a massive promise to fans after the band's July 29 show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. As the band wrapped the smash hit 'Sugar,' the kit minder said, "Next time we come back here, we'll have a new f---ing album!"

That’s a big deal for fans that are starved for new record from the band -- its last effort 'Hypnotize' dropped in 2005. The group went on hiatus but came out of hibernation to tour in recent years.

So either the band won't be playing Los Angeles for a long, long, long time or it plans to start work on a new album sooner than it seems.

You can watch the footage above to hear Dolmayan's declaration. It comes at about the 2:30 mark, but don't fast forward, since the performance of 'Sugar' is pretty electrifying.

Remember, there is quite a bit of drama in this camp related to new material. The famously fraught-with-internal-tensions band had some issues this spring when bassist Shavo Odadjian blamed the lack of new music on frontman Serj Tankian's focus on his non-metallic solo efforts in an angry and public Facebook post. The band moved quickly to stop the bleeding, issuing a statement that read as follows;

Shavo posted a few statements on his personal Facebook page that do not reflect the sentiments of System of Down as a collective band. These were misleading statements that were made during a temporary state of bad judgment on his part alone...

...Although we have not agreed on a timetable for a new album, we all believe that having the four of us do it together is the way to be true to the band and our fans."

Tankian did confirm that a new System of a Down album is a time-sucking endeavor that he can't quite commit to right now. Based on Dolmayan's comment, either Tankian has cleared some cap space, so to speak, or we may not see System for quite some time.