Elect the Dead review

Right time for the album

System Of A Down's lead vocalist Serj Tarkian released his first solo album Select The Dead. Well, actually this step could be foreseen. What else can a well-known musician do with his ideas after his main band went on hiatus? There are no obstacles; besides, he was willing to do something beyond the borders of System Of A Down for a long time already, so why not trying? In addition the present time is the most appropriate moment to do it. It has been two years since System Of A Down's recent album therefore a huge fan base of this band will be happy to meet Serj with arms wide open. His task is simply not to disappoint them. And it is worth admitting that most likely he will succeed. Just like it was expected, Tarkian decided that it would be better to demonstrate his personal views upon music without reinventing the wheal. The first thing you will think about when you will hear Select The Dead is going to be System Of A Down. It's not that easy, you know, to abandon the standards of that music you've been playing for ten years of your life.

Serj Tarkian played most of the instrumentation

Basically, the album turned out simply brilliant. The sound, material, presentation – everything sounds more than just convincing. The record doesn’t look like a questionable imitation of System Of The Down, quite the contrary - it could play the role of their new disc fairly well. Twitching guitar riffs, constant interchange of aggressive and tuneful themes and of course Tarkian vocals that cannot be confused with anybody else's. The first two tracks sound very exemplifying; all these traits flourish here in a full bloom. Empty Words is the album's main single. The song sounds heavy and fast but sufficiently tuneful at that. Unthinking Majority, in its turn, looks even heavier and faster. Insane pressure of guitars, drums and vocals interlace with very calm and melodic arrangements but as a whole this track sounds really monolithic. Probably, Select The Dead could look not so similar to System Of A Down if Tarkian would resort to the help of the off-site musicians. But he decided to do it all alone and played most of the instrumentation himself. He needed somebody to play drums though, but he couldn't think of a better person than John Dalmayan – his old mate from the same very System Of A Down.

Bright, diverse and interesting

However, you shouldn't forget that Select The Dead is a solo record all the same. For all those typically System-esque traits it bears, the album still has its own individuality. Firstly, the material sounds smoother and more melodic even on the heaviest songs of the album. Secondly, there are not so many heavy songs here. The material for the most part resembles mainstream rock, nevertheless almost every song here feature heavy pieces. There are lots of acoustic parts and piano melodies, which impart a feeling characteristic for classical music. As a matter of fact, Select The Dead has more tunefulness than all the albums of System Of The Down taken together. But it shouldn't be apprehended as something negative. The truth is that all the songs sound good, catchy and very original even despite their slight mainstream coloring. Listen to Honking Antelope, Lie, Lie, Lie or Baby – these songs definitely comprise one of the best parts of the album – they are bright, diverse and interesting, however, such a description corresponds to the majority of the songs represented here. Select The Dead will be "must have" for all fans of System Of A Down who are ready to apprehend their music from a new perspective. If you loved this band for their heaviness than most likely you won't like this album a lot, though, its chances are still very high.