System of a Down performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland, Oct. 18, 2021. Derek Tobias/STAFF.

OAKLAND — Los Angeles hard rockers System of a Down powered through the Bay Area for the first time in over 10 years on Monday, bringing Korn along for the ride after Faith No More canceled a few weeks ago due to concerns over Mike Patton’s health.

System of a Down.

System of a Down launched into its set with classics “X” and “Prison Song,” from Toxicity, followed by a handful of lesser-known songs from later albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize. Although System of a Down hasn’t made an album since 2005, the band has stayed active on the touring circuit, which showed on Monday. Guitarist Daron Malakian shredded through fan favorites like “Chop Suey” and “Psycho” while Serj Tankian provided perfectly timed staccato vocals.

The band then performed “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” two songs recorded in 2020 to raise money and awareness of Azerbaijan’s military conflict against Armenia. Tankian and co. debuted the songs live only lat week, but nailed the songs note for note in Oakland.

Malakian enticed the crowd to sing along to “Bounce,” creating a 17,000-person falsetto, before System of a Down closed out the performance with the progressively more chaotic pairing of “Toxicity,” which opened up a massive circle pit, and “Sugar.”

Having just wrapped its own tour and mostly recovered from several cases of COVID-19, California nu-metal mavens Korn came out with revived energy and a mostly reunited band. Only drummer Ray Luzier remained on the sidelines (due to COVID-19) while Fever 333 drummer Aric Improta filled in for him.

Korn.

“COVID is no joke,” Jonathan Davis said at the outset. “I got COVID, Ray got COVID and Head [guitarist Brian Welch] got COVID. So it’s not going to be perfect tonight, but we’re going to do our thing and have some fun either way.”

Korn still managed a quintessential performance, matching nearly 75 percent of its September set from the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, with hits like “Freak on a Leash,” “Coming Undone,” “Falling Away From Me” and “A.D.I.D.A.S.” The band finished with a massive explosion of streamers at the start of “Blind.”

Despite having just had $100,000 worth of gear stolen Sunday night from their U-Haul in Chowchilla, Russian Circles still showed up and played a 20-minute set filled with powerful instrumentation.

Follow photographer Derek Tobias at Instagram.com/simmonstobias.