Reviews

Serj Tankian

Elect the Dead

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Review Date: 2007-11-16

Serj Tankian is better known as the hirsute vocalist in System of a Down. This is his first record away from the band, but is not really much of a departure. All the anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-everything lyrics remain, together with the slow verse/angry chorus structure. Thus, SOAD fans should not feel alienated. This could well be a System album, and no-one would realize any different.

For those not knowledgeable in the way of the Down, don't feel like this album isn't for you. To be honest, I'm not a System fan at all myself. But I have liked a few of their songs, and so was willing to give this a try. It's a decent album, with some nice slow-slow-fast segments, a lot of shouting, and a hefty chunk of anti-war bias. But when you're from Armenia or The Lebanon or wherever Tankian is from, it's no wonder you'd be affected by politics in the Middle East.

Many System albums were known for their outrageous "fun" songs, such as Pizza or Pogo (I think that's what they're called, that's what they're about anyway!) Tankian's solo album doesn't contain any of this. It's a more straight-up heavy rock record. Not something you often see mentioned on the pages of TWM! It does not suffer for this loss of fun, instead it seems more serious, and the messages are thus more obvious. Take 'Money' for example, which is an anti-capitalist song, highlighting the "tyranny of money". This I can relate to, because I really could do with a payrise!

That said, 'Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition' might be considered fun by some. But I'm not sure if you should be let out with other people if you consider that fun!

Disregarding the meanings behind the songs, the album is full of highlights. The music itself is triumphant. If the music/vocals weren't any good, then no-one would bother with the message underneath. Take Battlefield Earth, who bothered with the message there? You may even find yourself singing/shouting a long to certain songs.

The problem within this album, and perhaps all of Tankian's work with that band I've mentioned far too many times is the fact that all the songs seem to be too similar. If he stopped shouting for a while, maybe I'd like this record more. Thus it's not as good as Mezmerize, in my opinion. It's still a pretty good record though. Probably worth a spin a month.

Tracks to Hear: 'Feed Us', 'Empty Walls', 'The Unthinking Majority', 'Sky Is Over', 'Praise The Lord...'

Score: 7.1

A good solo effort from Tankian, and one that is sure to please his many fans. I'm not a fan, but if he keeps on this path I may have to convert sooner rather than later.

- Ronan Hunt-Murphy