System Of A Down's Serj Tankian Unveils Artwork For New Solo Album 'Harakiri'
Thursday, 03 May 2012
Written by Jon Stickler
System Of A Down's Serj Tankian has unveiled the artwork for his new solo album ‘Harakiri’.
'Harakiri', the new studio album from singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet and political activist Serj Tankian is set to be released July 10th on Reprise Records/Serjical Strike.
Much of the new record was written in 2011, which was an incredibly busy year for the diversely talented musician and what Serj describes as “the busiest, most productive year of my life so far.” In February, the rock musical 'Prometheus Bound', which he composed all of the music for, opened at the Oberon Theater at Harvard in Boston to rave reviews. 2011 also saw Serj release his second poetry book, 'Glaring Through Oblivion'. He toured with System of a Down across three continents, performed with the Opera Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia, where he also had political meetings with heads of state and hosted non-profit events. He then performed his first ever concert in Lebanon, the place of his birth, with the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra. When he returned to the US, he finished writing four records: a jazz record, an electronic record he wrote with his friend Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence, a full classical symphony called 'Orca', and the new solo rock record that he is currently mastering.
“The year 2011 started with a fire. Some kids in Piha, NZ were setting off fireworks that landed on my neighbour's property and lit the whole hill on fire. I knew it was going to be a hell of a year and it certainly was,” says Tankian. “Within five days of that, reports came out about birds and fish dying in massive numbers globally. The omen was not lost on me. Varied creatures on earth were committing massive hara-kiri (the Japanese term signifying ritualistic suicide.) Do they know something we don't about the coming times or the sustainability of the environment? That is the day I started writing this record.”
Serj recently released a teaser video set to the music of his first single, 'Figure It Out'. The video follows two thugs that kidnap, torture and water board an innocent mailbox. You can check out a lyrics video here with the full music video for 'Figure It Out' following in the near future.
'Figure It Out' is released May 1st with 'Harakiri' available for pre-order the same day through Serj's website www.serjtankian.com and iTunes.
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'Harakiri', the new studio album from singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet and political activist Serj Tankian is set to be released July 10th on Reprise Records/Serjical Strike. 
