Serj Tankian falters with 'Elect the Dead'

Serj Tankian is a smart fella with a lot to say.

The lead singer for System of a Down has co-hosted a leftist political radio show with Rage Against the Machine guitarist, and self-proclaimed anarchist, Tom Morello. Topics range from the Armenian genocide of 1917, a favorite topic of Tankian’s that has made its way onto System Records to the imprisonment of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Tankian’s solo debut, “Elect the Dead,” follows the same course as System of a Down’s work. The same stop-and-go sound pacing tricks are used, the same heavy guitar riffs, Armenian folk mixed with hard rock, lyrics mixed with politically-charged rhetoric and absordism. System of a Down fans would take to this quickly.

The downside to this is it sounds like a collection of aborted B-sides from past System records. It lacks originality but more importantly it seems to lack invention, which people have come to expect from his mouth.

The songs were written entirely by Tankian after the release in 2005 of System’s duel LPs, “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize.” Unfortunately, with “Elect the Dead,” Tankian should have trimmed the fat from some of the 13 songs, many of which stall.

From “Lie Lie Lie”: “My baby, my baby/let me know/ because you love me, you love me/Let me go.” Tankian should be smarter than this.

Naturally, Tankian’s songs are very heated and very political at times. The standout track is “The Unthinking Majority,” with Tankian loudly chanting: “We don’t need your hypocrisy/Execute real democracy / Post-industrial society/ The unthinking majority/Post-industrial society/The unthinking majority/I believe that you’re wrong/Insinuating that they hold the bomb/Clearing the way for the oil brigade/Clearing the way for the oil brigade.”

Tankian performs all the instruments on the record, except for drums, for which he enlisted help from System’s John Dolmayan and Primus’ Bryan Mantia. Oddly enough, most of the songs are written for piano, and the guitars, sometimes obstructively, are added on top.

A positive first step for a talented vocalist, musician and lyricist but ultimately a record which falls short.

Graham Beckwith can be reached at [email protected].