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Music Out Now

Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead Symphony

Serj Tankian is not what he used to be. [He's better.] The Lebanese-born Armenian-American poet gone wild has blossomed beyond voice and hair into true fire and brimstone, melodic visionary perched on a cannonball soaring light speed through the heavens, striking chords from every cloud and raining from the heart.

His newest solo project 'Elect the Dead Symphony,' where he plays just about every instrument, shows more range than the US Missile System, exploding the parameters of "political" or intellectual music into realms of just good shit.

Sonic sanctuary is the term that comes to mind when describing Serj's voice. An angel scribbling into the margins of a book, unholy, contemplating the afterfuture while indicting the overbearing presence of the present (that's poetry mumbo jumbo for "you'll find it pretty cool to hear your son singing along with this album… You'll pat yourself on the back for raising kids with good taste").

One of the most unconventional frontmen in rock, System Of A Down singer Serj Tankian emerges as a solo artist with his debut album 'Elect The Dead'. System Of A Down, whose five genre-bending studio albums have sold over 16 million copies, went on an extended hiatus in August 2006.

Since then, Tankian has been holed up in his home studio in Los Angeles writing, recording, and producing Elect The Dead. It is an album that showcases the writing and arranging prowess of a man best known for his inimitable vocals, incisive lyrics, and unwavering dedication to humanitarian causes.

“Making Elect The Dead, I felt the exact same energy as I did recording System’s debut in 1998, that sense of open experimentation, the idea that ‘Wow, I’m actually doing this…’ I was living, eating, and shitting this music every day. I’d wake up in the morning and the thought of working on a song was so powerful I couldn’t focus on anything else.”