[3][4][5] Malakian and Dolmayan experimented with different musicians, for a period of nine months in 2007 the band took form and forged its sound in intense rehearsals and recording sessions under Malakian's direction, at his home studio and Sunset Sound; with musicians Danny Shamoun on keyboards, Dominic Cifarelli on bass, and Franky Perez on guitar and backing vocals.

On what direction his album will take, Daron Malakian states: "It will probably be something very heavy mixed in with traditional Armenian and thrash, death, doom, black and dark metal influences.

Malakian stated the sound will be influenced by classic rock such as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Yes, Neil Young, and Roxy Music, shifting his songwriting away from System of a Down's "frazzled metal" to more "song-based" work.

"[18] Similarly, Consequence of Sound gave the album a "D" rating, stating "Scars On Broadway is most definitely worth hearing – if you're a die-hard fan of Malakian's vocals.

[19] Rolling Stone, in a 3.5 out of 5 review, stating "as Scars on Broadway, Malakian shaves System's punk-dervish and metallic-vengeance extremes into straight-on rock glazed with New Wave keyboards and impish-angel harmonies.

[16] Billboard.com's Gary Graff stated of the album "Malakian and SOAD drummer John Dolmayan have indeed brought something new for their fans to love—and perhaps even for non-fans as well, given the more direct and accessible nature of Scars' music.