Serj Tankian - Harakiri

Published July 13 2012

*=Staff's pick	Cornucopia Figure It Out Ching Chime Butterfly* Harakiri Occupied Tears* Deafening Silence Forget Me Knot Reality TV* Uneducated Democracy Weave On

Genre	Alternative Metal	Serj Tankian	Vocals
Tracks	11	Serj Tankian	Guitar
Running time	45 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Warner Music	Serj Tankian	Bass
Release	10 July 2012	Serj Tankian	Drums
Country	USA	Serj Tankian	Keyboard
Producer	Serj Tankian
Similar artists	System Of A Down

Guests: Dan Monti (guitar), Mario Pagliarulo (bass), Troy Zeigler (drums)

Another solo album from System Of A Down's lead singer and frontman Serj Tankian. Except for some parts played by his touring band and similar to his previous efforts, the multi-instrumentalist have chosen to play all instruments by himself. The energetic and talented Armenian-American is also in the producer's seat once again and results may vary, when no one's there to tell what's good or bad.

Even if the music is not as aggressive, frantic and quickly tempo shifting as it is with System Of A Down, it's hard not to relate to that band and some tracks of course have parallels to them as well. Tankian's voice is very characteristic and when he's exploring new paths on his solo records with a little more of a rock 'n' roll or hard rock vibe, it still kicks back in the end. So make no mistake, you have to be totally deaf to not hear who has created this music. His rhythms are in his blood and the lyrics are sometimes funny, yet serious.

I must say that I generally prefer his up-tempo songs, like Butterfly and Occupied Tears. There are no fillers on the album, but according to me, no smash hits either. It's not diverse as many songs stand on the same foundation and have somewhat the same sound, but it's not monotonous either, because they all have their own touch and I don't get bored. All in all a decent record and if you like his past work, you might as well just order it without even listening to it first. Hardly nothing new, but still pretty solid.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	4	5	5	5

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe