Harakiri

Vigor and inspiration of a beginner, craftsmanship and confidence of a veteran

Serj Tankian’s solo career is no longer seen as some kind of appendix to the main line of activity of System Of A Down frontman, but it has indeed developed into a phenomenon that is getting more and more interesting to observe. Serj, who has been not for the wrong reason criticized for occasional poor live performances, makes up for them with full commitment to the studio work and a great writing potential. Actually, from album to album, Tankian demonstrates a constantly maturing material that displays no eye-itching self-plagiarisms and doubtful experiments. It could be that the musician has come to the pinochle of his growth with his third solo effort that is called Harakiri. It seems to have just the usual set of everything of this man, complex lyrics of political and social nature, Tankian’s trademark singing manner in which he rattles off words like a machine gun, and the whole selection of modern metal tricks. Yet it sounds unprecedentedly loud, captivating and rough. It sounds like an outcry of an artist who has been gathering his power, waiting patiently, and now he releases what he can no longer hold down.

Protesting out loud

Assembled of political mottoes, sociological commentaries and personal revelations, the Harakiri album knocks you off the ground and, never letting you get up, finishes you with kicks. Serj does not break the public into the right and the wrong; avoiding individual accusations, he points out those social stigmata that have affected each and every one. Only in the beginning dies he recommend for the last time to think twice and stop abusing what nature gave us. Cornucopia’s music is deceitfully relaxing, inviting to dance, yet the musician does not believe this fest will ever take place. The second track, classy single Figure It Out, is made in the vein of System Of A Down and within its three minutes, the song makes it clear what kind of talk there is going to be. To stop listeners from thinking this record is just another System Of A Down work, Serj make offers the third track, Ching Crime, constructed on solid metal structures, yet with a vocal line largely influenced by hip-hop. There will be one more song of the same kind, Deafening Silence, but this experiment should be counted as successful. As the album unfolds, Serj grows rougher and rougher in his words, and on Reality TV, and Uneducated Democracy he does not disguise his protesting in any way. A wide vocal range together with a mighty emotional aspect guarantee that these two will be taken notice of.

Time to get better

The Harakiri lyrics are really good. Tankian, though, unlike his like-minded colleagues from punk rock, is not going to bring his ideas and meanings in an opened and elaborated form. To comprehend the twisting of his poetic thoughts, you have to be a thinking and analyzing listener. However, the biggest power of the album is the music that, it seems, for the first time has its right to exist independently from Serj’s singing. Bass and drums, stuck in past to their basic functions, this time are much more complex and colorific. Guitars used to boost up aggression, and now they are applied in many more ways. Serj is certainly intended to broaden the horizons of his personal musical style, to make his music deeper and sharper. You can feel it from the musician’s vocals. His voice was a channel to conduct a blind and uncontrolled fury, but here Serj has got more moderate. Older and wiser, the rocker gives his own example to prove that screams and noisy music are not always the best way to convince people, not the best tool to reach them. Nevertheless, these all are changed attributes and properties of the same trend, the same art. If you did not care for Tankian’s music before, this release will not change your attitude. For his supporters, the album is a great entertainment. And for the musician, it is a certificate of a huge progress made.