Serj Tankian: Harakiri – Music Review

20130528_1713RIYL: System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day

On Harakiri, Serj Tankian’s third solo album, the focus is squarely on world politics, the environment and social change. With the content of his lyrics, Tankian rails against injustices, naivety, and outright global destruction, hoping to inform and ultimately motivate his listeners towards action. It’s a lofty goal but against all odds the album successfully addresses these complex issues while remaining musically interesting and catchy. The sound isn’t as heavy as on his releases with System of a Down but there’s more than enough distortion and crunch to keep System fans happy.

After a couple of forgettable openers, “Ching Chime” finally grabs the spotlight, laying out a danceable Middle Eastern rhythm and a catchy riff on the Oud. The verses find Tankian boldly attempting a sort of freestyle rap that feels a bit tongue in cheek (Super Bowl half time, any time is war time/ Seconds is just past time, gonorrhea over time) but the chorus is solid and overall the track works well.

The follow-up “Butterfly” is a nice nugget with head banging snare and killer electric guitar riffing. Be warned: it takes a number of listens for the intelligence of these songs to sink in. The politicized lyrics are jarring at first, but on the whole, Harakiri feels much more rewarding than your typical 2013 tunesmithing. The bridge in “Butterfly”: “Why cant we switch automatically to Eco-centric persuasions? Why cant we ditch autocracy…” The bridge in Selena Gomez’ latest hit: “This love will be the death of me/ but I know I’ll die happily/ I’ll know…Because you love me so. Yeah!”

The title track “Harakiri” pulls content from the alarming die-offs of fauna worldwide and Tankian’s moving music video of the song on You Tube is definitely worth a watch. The heft of the LP comes with the trio of tunes that make up the middle section. “Occupied Tears”, “Deafening Silence”, and “Forget Me Knot” are all impressively mature and moving realizations of Tankian’s melodic mind and restless worldview. It’s hard to envision any other artist addressing the Israeli Occupation of Palestine (on “Occupied Tears”) with such fearlessness. It may not be for everyone, but for those that yearn for music to be more than mindless fluff, Harakiri is protest rock at its finest.

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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.serjtankian.com

 

Author: Gabe Vigh

Gabe is a Cambridge, MA based writer, photographer and artist. He is a big fan of recycling, Bob's Burgers, and a bit of a weather buff.