System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian is presently finishing up work on his forthcoming third solo-outing, “Hakari“. Tankian has been self-producing the effort at his own Serjical Strike Studios in Los Angeles, CA and intends to release the album this summer via Serjical Strike/Reprise.
Speaking on the album, Tankian stated:
“The year 2011 started with a fire. Some kids in Piha, NZ were setting off fireworks that landed on my neighbor’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. Within 5 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.”
He continued:
“The record is different than any I’ve made as a solo artist. It is much more driving and punk oriented with influences ranging from goth to electronic to 80’s vibes, dynamically heavy rock to epic melodic songs. Lyrically, it spans the gauntlet of themes from personal, political and philosophical to spiritual, humor and love.”
He also revealed that he has been experimenting with the writing process on the outing, offering:
“I used the Apple iPad as a songwriting instrument to sketch out three of the songs on the record. We must trick ourselves into writing in different ways to get unexpected results.”
“Harakiri” is but one of the irons Tankian has in the fire; as he also has three other new albums written. Those include: “a jazz record”, an “electronic record he wrote with his friend Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence,” and “a full classical symphony called Orca.”
