Elect the dead
| Elect the dead | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by Serj Tankian | |
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Publication |
2007 |
| Label (s) | Serjical Strike , Reprise Records |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
45 min 03 s (standard edition) |
| occupation | Serj Tankian |
|
Serj Tankian |
|
|
Studio (s) |
Serjical Strike Studios |
Elect the Dead is the first solo album by Serj Tankian , the singer of the alternative metal band System of a Down . It was released in the US on October 22, 2007. The album was released and produced by Tankian's label Serjical Strike .
Elect the Dead belongs to the genre of alternative rock . Although it differs overall from the last System-of-a-Down albums, you can recognize familiar elements of the band, especially in the tension build-up.
Emergence
After System of a Down had released the two albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize every six months in 2005 , the band members decided to take a creative break and pursue solo projects first.
Elect the Dead consists of songs that Tankian has been carrying around for a long time. At first he recorded the album completely by himself. In the studio he played the pieces one after the other on each instrument. Tankian said:
“I played all of the piano parts, most of the guitars and basses, and all of the synths. I composed all the string parts myself, I even wrote almost all of the drum parts. [...] I started with the piano, the acoustic guitar and the rough vowels. Then I programmed the drums electronically and played the rest of the instruments. "
For the fine work, he then invited several guest musicians to his studio. His System-of-a-Down bandmate John Dolmayan and Guns-N'-Roses drummer Bryan Mantia replaced the loops he had previously used . To do this, they sometimes played the songs in parallel and then decided together which part was best where. As a result, some of the songs contain parts of all three drum recordings. Dan Monti supported the existing recordings on guitar and bass. The female vocal parts were performed by the opera singer Ani Maldjian ( Lie Lie Lie , Saving Us ). There were also a few strings. Most songs contain numerous audio tracks running side by side. You can always hear at least seven guitars, four drums, two to three basses and a few other instruments. The choirs were also created in this way and are all Tankian's voice on several sound tracks on the album.
Track list
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- Empty Walls - 3:49 (Video: Tony Petrossian)
- The Unthinking Majority - 3:46 (Video: Tawd Dorrnfeld)
- Money - 3:53 (Video: Ara Soudjian)
- Feed Us - 4:31 (Video: Sevag Verj)
- Saving Us - 4:41 (Video: Kevin Estrada)
- Sky Is Over - 2:57 (Video: José Rivera)
- Baby - 3:31 (Video: Diran Noubar)
- Honking Antelope - 3:50 (Video: Roger Kupelian)
- Lie Lie Lie - 3:33 (Video: Martha Colburn)
- Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition - 4:23 (Video: Greg Watermann)
- Beethoven's Cunt - 3:13 (Video: Adam Egypt Mortimer)
- Elect the Dead - 2:54 (Video: Gariné Torossian)
Bonus tracks
Japanese version
- The Reverend King - 2:49 (Japanese version only)
Special Edition Bonus CD
- Blue - 2:45
- Empty Walls (acoustic version) - 3:46
- Feed Us (acoustic version) - 4:21
- Falling Stars - 3:05
Singles
The Unthinking Majority was released on August 7, 2007 as the first single, but was only available as a download. The accompanying music video was produced by Tawd B. Dorenfield and posted on Tankian's official website four days earlier on August 3rd. The text deals with Tankian's thoughts on hypocrisy and unstable democracy.
Empty Walls became the first official single. It was first released on September 10th as a download and on September 25th as a CD single. The song peaked at number three on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks and number four on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks on the US Billboard charts. It also stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 (97th place) for a week . The music video for Empty Walls , directed by Tony Petrossian, was released on September 11, 2007, matching its theme. It shows children playing in a kind of kindergarten. A girl builds two towers out of blocks to represent the World Trade Center . A boy destroys them with a toy airplane, whereupon a "war" breaks out between all the children. Various scenes from the Iraq war are re-enacted, such as the razing of a statue of Saddam Hussein , represented by an oversized teddy bear, or the torture in Abu Ghraib prison . In between, Serj Tankian is shown again and again as Uncle Sam , who sings a "gloomy, tormenting, desolate hymn to the victims of war" ( Nick Thompson of the Manchester Evening News ) in the midst of the children .
The next single is Sky is Over , which was first released for radio stations on January 16, 2008 and then released as a CD single in February. To mark the occasion, he and Tony Petrossian as director recorded a second music video that focuses purely on him and his thoughts on the song.
Video project
A video was made for each of the songs on the album, which Tankian gradually published on his website. A different director was hired for each video. According to Tankian, they had "complete freedom of action" and should simply tell a story that comes to mind when their respective song comes to mind. Tankian himself did not originally appear in the videos, the only exception being the video for the official single Empty Walls .
All videos of the project were presented on October 22, 2007 in a special screening in various cinemas across the USA.
| publication | Track | title | Director | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 5, 2007 | 2 | The Unthinking Majority | Tawd Dorrnfeld | Toy soldiers at war. According to Tankian, the song should be a "statement on the current catastrophe of our failing democracy". |
| September 11, 2007 | 1 | Empty walls | Tony Petrossian | deals with the attacks of September 11, 2001 and its consequences |
| October 10, 2007 | 5 | Saving Us | Kevin Estrada | A homeless man walks through the streets and looks at people who seem to be doing better. They all hold begging signs on which instead of asking for money their worries, fears, concerns and hopes are noted. Towards the end, these problems weigh on him more and more until he finally collapses. Thereupon two little girls run up to him and each push a banknote into his hand. When he looks at them, their signs read "Faith" and "Hope". |
| November 20, 2007 | 4th | Feed Us | Sevag Verj | |
| 9 | Lie, Lie, Lie | Martha Colburn | ||
| 8th | Honking Antelope | Roger Kupelian | ||
| 12 | Elect the dead | Gariné Torossian | ||
| 7th | infant | Diran Noubar | ||
| February 21, 2008 | 6th | Sky is over | José Rivera | shows the Armenian-born artist Vahé Berberian how he processed his impressions of the song into a painting |
| 11 | Beethoven's Cunt | Adam Egypt Mortimer | ||
| March 2, 2008 | 3 | Money | Ara Soudjian | |
| 10 | Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition | Greg Watermann | Sevag, Serj Tankian's brother, plays a kind of TV preacher on a somewhat freaky show in a club. However, instead of the usual believers in the audience, there are hardcore fans. A casting was previously advertised for the video shoot, in which anyone with a MySpace account could participate. |
success
The album was largely positively received by reviews and fans. In the first week it rose to number 4 on the US Billboard charts.
“Serj Tankian didn't create anything really astonishingly new with" Elect The Dead ". Something really good, because it is controversial, appealing to the brain, heart and neck muscles, but yes. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b laut.de: SERJ TANKIAN "I broke all the rules!" (German, accessed on February 29, 2008)
- ↑ musicline.de: Chart tracking / Tankian, Serj / Longplay ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 29, 2009.
- ↑ austriancharts.at: Discographie Serj Tankian.Retrieved on January 29, 2009.
- ↑ hitparade.ch: Discographie Serj Tankian. Accessed on January 29, 2009.
- ↑ Elect the Dead in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ a b c billboard.com: Serj Tankian Album & Song Chart History.Retrieved January 29, 2009. (English)
- ↑ Unthinking Majority on iTunes ( Memento from August 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Artist Chart History Singles ( Memento from November 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Blabbermouth.net: SERJ TANKIAN: 'Empty Walls' Video Available - Sep. 12, 2007 ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed February 29, 2008)
- ↑ Nick Thompson: Serj Tankian - Empty Walls (Reprise) , 10/19/2007 (English, accessed February 29, 2008)
- ↑ blabbermouth.net: SERJ TANKIAN: 'Elect The Dead' Videos To Be Shown On Big Screen - Oct. 8, 2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Serj Tankian: SYSTEM OF A DOWN Frontman Releases 'The Unthinking Majority' Video - Aug. 5, 2007. (No longer available online.) Blabbermouth.net, archived from the original on January 19, 2008 ; Retrieved on August 26, 2008 (English): "[...] to make a statement about the current catastrophe of our failing democracy" Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Criticism at laut.de.
Web links
- Official website with the videos and texts (English, Flash content)
- Video interview with Serj Tankian on his solo project (English)
- Elect the Dead at Allmusic (English)
- Elect the Dead at Rolling Stone (English)
- Review at laut.de (German)