For millions who watched the war in Iraq explode on their TV screens, the conflict evoked emotions ranging from sadness to rage to elation. For System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian, the experience was downright harrowing.

Every time a bomb fell on downtown Baghdad, his stomach lurched — not only because innocent people were dying, but because 40 of his relatives, including his grandmother, were huddled in homes there, hoping to escape the onslaught unharmed.

"For about a month and a half I had no idea if my family was dead or alive," he said from his home in Los Angeles. "Then I learned that they were all OK, and now I'm breathing easier, but we're still waiting to see what happens. The situation is still not good."

As unsettled as he still is about the situation, he said he's hopeful about the future and encouraged by the way U.S. troops have interacted with his family, with whom he recently re-established contact. As the tensions have eased a bit, he and his family have even enjoyed a few laughs. Malakian is especially amused by a story one of his cousins told him.

"Some of my cousins went up to the American soldiers and said, 'Hey, have you heard of System of a Down?' And the Americans were like, 'What the hell? You're an Iraqi. How the hell do you know what System of a Down is?' And he went, 'He's my cousin, man.' And he showed them a picture of me at his house, because I went to Iraq when I was 14 years old."

To cope with the uncertainty and frustration of the past year, Malakian, who pens all of the band's core rhythms and melodies, wrote at a more frenzied pace than usual. Before long he had assembled 26 songs, which he'll screen for his bandmates at the end of the month after System play the Leeds and Reading festivals in England.

"When something happens, I write a lot," Malakian said. "But it didn't necessarily bring out a lot of political lyrics for me, it just brought out a lot of emotional stuff. The songs deal with everything from the war to a rabbit that I ran over on my way home and how his relatives feel. System of a Down is all over the board; we're never going to focus on one thing."

Malakian said some of the tracks are faster than most of the band's past output, and some of the harmonies were informed by tracks on the band's last disc, Steal This Album!

"It's melodic in some ways and it's heavy, but a lot of stuff happens in between the heavy," Malakian said. "It's not gonna sound like any of our records. We've had a lot of time off, and I've had a lot of time to rethink our sound and make some changes."

For years, critics have noted Eastern influences in System of a Down's music. Malakian insists that in the past such sounds were unintentional, but on the new record they'll be consciously woven into the aural tapestry.

"Our older riffs had more of a 'chugga-chugga' sound," he said. "This stuff is more notey and melodic in an Eastern type of way. So this time I've actually put those kinds of vibes within a lot of heavy stuff."

System of a Down will probably work on Malakian's material for around six months before entering the studio to record, he said. "I'm sure the rest of the guys have a lot of ideas that they've been working on that they're gonna bring in. They'll add their flavors and we'll blend it all together. That's what makes it System."