SERJ TANKIAN - HARAKIRI

SERJ TANKIAN – HARAKIRI

By Carl Ewen

Serj Tankian is not one to keep his opinions to himself, and does not hold back when it comes to voicing those opinions. On his latest solo album, there is no change.

Filled with political angst, Harakiri (the Japanese word for ritualistic suicide) is a political and social statement right from the outset, with lyrics such as “Freedom is raped by war, like whore”  from the first single Figure It Out you know that Serj is not messing around.

Throughout the System of a Down frontman’s third solo LP he tackles a wide range of issues facing the world we live in: war, materialism, environmental disasters, corrupt CEOs, and repeatedly refers to animal suicide. He even manages a well-placed swipe at the issue of reality TV, and specifically at Jersey Shore ‘star’ Snookie with the lyric, "I abhor the whore who calls herself reality TV".

Serj Tankian is much more than just a musician. He is an artist. He has an unusual grasp and love for language, and with Harakiri he is able paint pictures in your mind when you are listening to the album.

Serj is very specific about the message of the album, and each song has a very specific mean. On his website he wrote the following statement, telling a story with the song titles from the record:

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 "The Cornucopia of love/hate affairs with Gaia have made us scream "Fuck! Let'sFigure It Out! CEOs are the disease." Where abusive capitalism's only fate is human/environmental devastation.

The Ching Chime, diminutive drama of a gangsta Butterfly revealed that humanity's tears actually outweigh yearly rainfall on the planet. We have witnessed Harakiri on a grand scale tearing out the Occupied Tears of victims preyed on by victims turned aggressors creating a Deafening Silence through which we hear a voice plead, "Forget Me Knot, my child." 

Reality TV has become the searing indictment of a society best described as the Uneducated Democracy. The daughters of the evolution Weave On with blood dripping down their guilty hands onto the flag as the word republic is replaced by empire."

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Serj has an uncanny ability to make you feel when you hear his music. While the album, in parts, rivals the heaviness of System of a Down’s 2001 release Toxicity, it also has it’s quiet almost peaceful moments, but these moments hold just as much depth and meaning as the rest of the album.  

This is an album that seems on the surface to have some very heavy subject matter but Serj Tankian has such a powerful voice, changing between soulful crooning, fast paced rapping and barking, so that album never gets boring. Even weaving in a variety of musical influences ranging from Armenian grooves and Middle Eastern chants especially in one of the stand out tracks Ching Chime.

He is an artist who beliefs he can make a difference to the world and makes you believe that he can. He is an activist who passionate believes in making a change in the world. I’m not the type of person that generally buys into this, so for me to start thinking differently, it says a lot.

Harakiri is easily Tankian’s best solo album, and one of his best pieces of work since SOAD’s self-titled debut, and according to the man himself it is only one of four albums set to be released in 2012.

Serj is a true asset to the musical community, and as he holds residency in New Zealand, this Piha relative is also a true asset to New Zealand.

RATING: 5/5