The ever-present question of whether or not System Of A Down will release a new album has again been investigated, with the group’s guitarist revealing that it’s just “one guy” holding the band back from releasing record #6.

Only a matter of days ago, the latest chapter in this saga saw System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan explaining that he isn’t sure if the band will indeed record a new album, stating that “certain members of my band haven’t been able to make it work for themselves.”

Now, speaking with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith for US radio station SiriusXM (via Alternative Nation), System Of A Down’s Daron Malakian revealed that the majority of the band are one board with recording a new record, yet are being held back by one unnamed member of the group.

“We have different viewpoints on how we want to make the record, how much time we want to spend. I mean, it’s complicated,” he explained, before noting that System Of A Down is indeed a complicated group to be a part of.

Chad Smith also offered his viewpoint, stating “I think in most bands, especially when it’s not one guy saying, one sort of leader of the band so to speak, when it’s more of a democracy, which I think, I don’t know if you’d use that word.”

“It is a democracy, but in this case, it kind of is one guy holding it back a little bit,” Malakian responded. “But that’s cool though, we still do shows. We still play, we still get along, we’re still friends.”

While Daron Malakian did not name the band member who has been ‘holding it back’, fans have begun to speculate that it may be System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian, who has previously expressed his hesitation towards a new record.

Back in December, Tankian seemed to indicate that any of his future projects will be wholly instrumental, explaining that he’s “tired” of writing lyrics and that he “wrote so many lyrics that it stopped to be interesting.”

Tankian later confirmed that the band do indeed have new music, but they can’t seem to reach a consensus on how they should move forward as a group.

“We’ve discussed it and we’ve played each other songs, but we still haven’t come eye to eye on how things should be done for us to be able to move forward with it. That’s where it’s been,” he explained to Rolling Stone.

“When people don’t see a record, they assume the worst about your internal relationship. But the truth is we’re actually better friends—at least I’m better friends with everyone than I’ve ever been.”

At this point, the back and forth between members is starting to become frustrating for fans, though the constant reassurance that the group are still good friends is definitely comforting. Here’s hoping that things might begin to look up after the group wrap up their current tour dates.

Check out System Of A Down’s ‘Sugar’:

The article was originally published on Tone Deaf