Los Angeles rock act System of a Down is laying the groundwork for the May 17 release of "Mezmerize"--disc one of the two-disc "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" album--with a 10-city "guerilla" tour.

The outing launched Monday night (4/25) in San Francisco, where the group played to a sold-out crowd at The Fillmore. The band has so far confirmed additional shows in Denver, Dallas and Austin.

SOAD will announce additional cities and venues, as well as ticket on-sale information, via its website shortly before the shows take place.

The outing marks the band's first North American tour since 2002.

"We wanted to play shows in the kind of small venues that we used to before we were signed, before our first album came out," guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian said in a statement. "We want to create an environment that is just one big party, not the band on stage separated from our fans in the audience. We're very excited about making this happen."

During the tour, the group plans to debut some new songs from "Mezmerize/Hypnotize," including the first single "B.Y.O.B." and "Cigaro," a track that the band leaked to the Internet earlier this year. The guerilla tour's first show also featured songs from the band's three previous platinum-certified albums.

System recorded the 30 tracks that comprise "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" at co-producer Rick Rubin's Los Angeles studio during the second half of 2004. Andy Wallace mixed the set.

Disc two, "Hypnotize," will hit stores this fall. According to a press release issued earlier this year, "[t]he decision to release the two discs six months apart was made simply to give fans time to get into and really live with the music from disc one before plunging into disc two."