Serj Tankian
Imperfect Harmonies

Describing Serj Tankian is not easy. As the leader of one of the most important Nu Metal bands of recent years, System Of A Down, he has managed to extract the true essence of being an artist. Artist, indeed, before musician, is the appropriate term to describe the forty-year-old Lebanese of Armenian origin. Tankian has always given as much space to music as to writing and poetry and, albeit indirectly but voluntarily, he has often coordinated his works for political-social purposes.

Following the excellent debut album "Elect The Dead" and its overtly anti-Republican stance, in September 2010, he released "Imperfect Harmonies". From a musical point of view, the criticism often leveled at him was that of rehashing and reworking the System Of A Down style in both lyrics and music (SOAD drummer John Dolmayan collaborated on almost all the tracks of the first solo album, listen for example to "The Unthinking Majority" as confirmation of this), well, anyone wishing to point the finger at this second work cannot repeat the same accusations, this is not a Nu Metal album, it is not a musically aggressive album, it seems not to be a Serj Tankian album, it seems.

The fundamental component is the words even before the music, music filled with electronic influences and beyond, and lyrics even more engaging, even more incisive and direct than in the past. The violins in "Beatus" blend perfectly with his ever-warm voice, which is always ready for any experiment, just as the single "Borders Are" (of which I report video and translation) defines the basic scheme of the album, reflective yet insightful as always, as the former SOAD is not a hypocrite and, even more so, does not follow trends (I'm thinking of the 1000 anti-Bush albums from a few years ago by dozens and dozens of bands ready to exploit the moment), but follows his own path, a path as mentioned anti-political and marginally also anti-religious if we analyze the other lead single, "Left Of Center", among the most impactful and rock tracks of the entire album. More generally, there are no shortage of progressive and jazz influences as in "Wings Of Summer", as of course there is the presence of the piano as in the splendid "Gate 21" and in "Yes, Its Genocide". Being the multi-instrumentalist that he is, Tankian leaves nothing out, and his voice, whether you love it or hate it, reaches tones inaccessible to many contemporary vocalists, filtering strong Middle Eastern influences to which we Westerners, myself included, are not very accustomed.

In conclusion, I state that the only flaw that can be attributed to the album is the opposite of the previous one, "Imperfect Harmonies" is so delicate that it lacks musical aggressiveness, I emphasize musical because, as is understood, the sharp lyrics of the American from Beirut continue to heavily flavor his every writing. It's an album not to be listened to in the car or as background music to avoid it being heavy and almost boring, but rather it requires an especially attentive and open ear, psychologically open first before in the literal sense. Overall, I believe the experiment has been successful, and while I consider this album inferior to the previous "Elect The Dead", I also believe that his new artistic inspirations can only benefit a more or less likely reunion of "System Of A Down", in the meantime, let's relax with these 'imperfect harmonies', which in the end aren't that imperfect after all.