The Bar

Get this at the TMB Store!

1. Empty Walls
2. The Unthinking Majority
3. Money
4. Feed Us
5. Saving Us
6. Sky Is Over
7. Baby
8. Honking Antelope
9. Lie Lie Lie
10. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
11. Beethoven’s Cunt
12. Elect the Dead

Official Bar Score: 

Elect the Dead marks the debut solo album from System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian and an one of the most anticipated mainstream rock releases of the second half of 07. Now going into this album I had mixed feelings, on one had I knew the album had the potential to be great with the quality music SOAD has released in the past in addition to the ecentric personality of Serj I expected a wide variety of musical influences. On the other hand while Hypnotize was’t a bad album, it still was the worst effort from SOAD.

What I ended up getting was an album that fell somewhere between expectations and potential. Musically the album ranges from classical piano to instances of punk to radio rock, which is where the album spends most of it’s time.

Honestly after multiple listens that’s what I found to be the main problem with the disc. Whereas I expected a very diverse album, Elect the Dead with a few exceptions pretty much walks the same line the entire album.

That’s where it becomes hard to score, it’s not a bad album but at the same time I feel as if he went the safe route for the most part, which considering the body of work Serj has been part of in the past I was kind of surprised. The Unthinking Majority and Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition are perfect examples of the diversity I expected, however most of the album plays very much like a companion to Hypnotize in that it’s a very commercialized release.

Still I can’t hold it against someone who puts out a commercialized release. However what I can hold against someone is two pet peaves that ultimately cost the album from being a four beer disc.

Number one though repetition is a good way of making lyrics stick in your head, I felt the technique was a little over utilized making some songs seem longer than they honestly needed to be.

Number two, the piano intros the start many of the later tracks seemed a bit overdone and even sounded very similar at times.

Still if you are a fan of Serj’s work in SOAD I’d give it a listen as it’s a good album that caters to the established fan base but at the same time does very little to seek out new fans.

Recent Posts by Dr. Monkey

• Dr. Monkey's Movie Quiz # 1 - November 1st, 2008
• Movie Review: Saw V - October 24th, 2008
• Dr. Monkey's Album Quiz # 2 - October 21st, 2008
• Dr. Monkey's Album Quiz # 1 - October 12th, 2008
• Catching Up With the Dr: AKA The Lazy Post - October 6th, 2008