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Serj Tankian

Elect The Dead  Hear it Now

RS: 2.5of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 4.5of 5 Stars

2007

Play View Serj Tankian's page on Rhapsody

First the good news: With his solo debut, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian didn't try to make an electro-pop album or acoustic-folk opus. In fact, Elect the Dead is nearly as decadently weird and furiously propulsive as System's art-metal records were: Serrated guitars and madman rants bump up against pained, slo-mo choruses and speed-punk splatter, occasionally within the song. Sometimes, the strange little frills work -- the prolix, singsong hooks and eerie, is-that-an-electric-violin? riffs on "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," say. But Elect the Dead mostly sounds like a random smattering of ideas, many of them undercooked: "Saving Us," to name one dud, features a bleated, awfully annoying chorus that Tankian's bandmates might have talked him out of, were they involved. And though some may praise the leftist, possibly Iraq-inspired doomsaying of Tankian's lyrics, it's hard to imagine anyone getting much out of his self-serious tirades about post-industrial society and putting "civilization on trial."

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Nov 1, 2007)

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Review 1 of 5

Antman writes:

4of 5 Stars

I bought this the other day solely based on the RS review. I'm not a fan of S.O.D at all. I purchased this because I normally find that the lower the review from RS the more likely I am to enjoy the album. I'm also a litte fed up with the jingoism of the press and found this albums forthright worldview refreshing. It is melodramatic but it still offers a different view and makes you think and ask questions.......I'm not a music critic but I really enjoyed this allbum's eclecticness and will definately be purchasing a S.O.D album as a result.

Nov 1, 2007 08:00:37

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Review 2 of 5

kurt3000 writes:

4of 5 Stars

i just got the album today and i listened to it a few times over and personally i dont think its the average album RS makes it out to be. ok to make them happy ill agree with them: yes some ideas where half baked. some songs could have used a little work like "saving us" and "the sky is over" and i could have waited till chrismas for a few fixs. now the very good side. the way the music feels (to me atleast) was a terrific trip and the lyrics where an eye opener. it had a combined feel of system and a little of serjs own spice. for example i felt that "praise the lord and pass the amunition" had the strange and out there sound of lets say "vicinity of obcenity" and the meaning of "boom" but the style was definatly serj alone. alot of songs such as "baby" and "lie lie lie" had the same kind of mixed feel but prodominatly serjs personal addition of flavor to it while being differant from each other. overall it was a terrific album and should be bought by soad and hard rock fans everywhere. i dont think it deserves a 5 but it definatly doesnt deserve a 2 1/2. i get the lyrics and i think that if the people that have listened to soad all these years (which is probably the majority of buyers) will understand it too because of songs like "boom" "soldier side" and "attack".

Oct 28, 2007 22:00:21

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Review 3 of 5

HRM writes:

2of 5 Stars

I agree with Rollingstone on the fact that the album needed to be worked on more. I found the album very disappointing, except for three songs, Empty Walls, The Unthinking Majority, and Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. Rest of the songs are crap. I am a huge System fan, and this to me was nothing close to the craziness that System is. I think Serj needed to work on them more and please no more "Baby" in the lyrics.

Oct 28, 2007 06:30:42

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Review 4 of 5

USisDead writes:

Not Rated

haha dont listen to what the RS reveiw said, which was a hardship to read due to the ignorant comments just because this album may oppose the war, if you love System of a Down this album is everything and more, this album cures the ears that U2 may have damaged

Oct 27, 2007 15:08:07

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Review 5 of 5

HardRockSamurai writes:

5of 5 Stars

As a SOAD fan, I know Serj's singing style is pretty unique. Sure, you could b*tch that "it's just system of a down all over again," BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP THIS ALBUM FROM BEING F*CKING BRILLIANT. The fact that Serj did all this by himself is already a sign of pure talent. Every song i've listened to is original and tunes perfectly to his style. As soon as I can, I will purchase this album. 2 1/2 Stars? RS...as much as I respect you guys as music critics...please...reconsider (it's not too late)

Oct 25, 2007 19:03:47

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