Music Reviews
Serj Tankian – ‘Elect the Dead’
By Jeff Swindoll Oct 19, 2007, 14:02 GMT
I’m not familiar with the band System of a Down, but their front man Serj Tankian has gone on the solo route with this album (however, I don’t think that he’s quitting the band just doing this solo effort).
Tankian also is known for founding Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization to promote social justice, with Tom Morello of Audioslave.
It’s obvious that he wants to work his political leanings into his music, but oddly the songs that I recognized this trend in were the least effective on the album (to my untrained ear, you may love them).
“The Unthinking Majority” says “I believe that you’re wrong in insinuating that they hold the bomb, clear the way for the oil brigade.” I guess that he’s trying to say something about Iraq (duh). The odd thing about some of the songs is that he sings them with a pronounced accent that is not found on the others.
Tankian was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but was raised in Los Angeles. I don’t know if he’s doing this for effect or if when he tries to sing at a different range that the accent just comes out (I found an online interview with him and I’d not say that he really has too much of an accent and certainly not like the one used on the songs).
“Money” and “Saving Us” were a really good tracks and I didn’t detect the accent I heard in the songs I’d consider politically motivated. There’s a picture him on his Wikipedia entry that makes him look like a bit of a madman, but I imagine that he just has a different sense of humor instead of being certifiable (which made me wonder even more about the accentuation of the accent in some of the songs).
All in all I liked the album, but the tracks that really did it for me were the ones where a “message” wasn’t being sung to me, like “Money” (or I just didn’t notice the message in those tracks).
‘Elect the Dead’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information.
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Older Talkback
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Quick tip: If you're going to review a solo album put out by an artist known primarily for his/her work in another band, familiariaze yourself with said band -- it'll give you a leg to stand on in your review. As for Serj, he has used strange inflections/accents and shifted from mellow to madman in his songs from the start -- this is what he does. And as for the songs with a 'message' not working for you, well perhaps you need to explore the message a bit more or change your expectations. For instance, you believe the 'Unthinking Majority' line about 'the bomb' refers to Iraq -- 'duh' as you say. What if it refers to the next likely target for this reckless administration: Iran? Would this not then be a prescient message instead of a tired one?
Actually Fu, I would've loved to have had time to familiarize myself with Tankian (I did listen to a radio broadcast from his nonprofit) or System of a Down. However, the procurring of such would've definately caused a deadline to be missed. I don't think my familiarity is much of an issue as it would give the uninitated's view of the album. If having to have a exhaustive knowlege of the subject is to be required then I'd expect that reviewing of any kind will be off the 'net. As to the messages precience, I think that is how it will be widely interpreted as Iraq (no matter what was had in mind when it was written) since Iraq is the news of the moment. I did like the album, just preferred some songs to others.
i enjoyed the album, but i disagreee with you about money. its a great song, with a clear message:society's greed. i think you would have had a better grounding for the review if you would have heard some of system's albums(such as hiss accent) but whatever.
dude i love serj and the whole friggin album 9/10 dude
Yah i have not listen any song from the elect the dead but i know system of a down, i like it very much. I am sure serj would have put out great music in his first solo album. Serj voice is so sweet and hard.
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anon.Oct 19th, 2007 - 16:50:21
as for money i think theirs a clear message there,suprisingly about money 'the causes of my servitude can be traced to an eternity of.. MONEY!'
i read an interview with rollingstone yesterday and its clear his message is one of the failure of civilisation, and environmental such as teh song 'honking antelope'
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