Year in Rock 2012 Nominee: Serj Tankian

SERJ TANKIAN

Harakiri

From: Harakiri

Released: July 10

Seven years removed from his last album with them, Serj Tankian is still known by most as “the guy from System of a Down”. Over these last seven years, he's tried to distance himself somewhat from SOAD and prove that he's a formidable songwriter and performer outside the manic metal attack of the band that made him famous. Results have been mixed until this year's Harakiri. On it, the songs that sound most like System are also perhaps the weakest; lead single Figure It Out was obviously penned with SOAD fans in mind, but its profanity-laden Ministry-esque delivery, while potent on its own, detracts from the rest of the album. The real highlight on Harakiri is its title track, a soaring gem that doesn't let its riffs get in the way of a well-written song.

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