''Elect the Dead'' is the debut album by rock musician

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

, lead singer and founding member of Armenian-American metal band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

. It was released on October 22, 2007. Alongside Tankian appears Armenian-American coloratura Ani Maldjian, drummers

John Dolmayan John Dolmayan (; born July 15, 1972) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician, best known as the drummer of System of a Down. He is also the drummer for the band Indicator and former drummer for Scars on Broadway. Dolmayan ranked number 33 ...

(System of a Down) and

Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

( Primus, Guns N' Roses),

Dan Monti Dan Monti, also known by his stage name Del Rey Brewer or simply Brewer, is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer who has worked with such bands as Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses. The bulk of his work, however, has bee ...

on guitars, as well as a string section featuring Antonio Pontarelli.Serj Tankian biography on SOADFans fansite

Marketing

The initial single from the album was a two-track promo including " Empty Walls" and "The Unthinking Majority", released on September 10, 2007. Tankian immediately appeared on MTV's "You Rock the Deuce" program. Meanwhile, a music video of "Feed Us" was released in Sweden and on UK MTV. The album was released October 22, 2007 and opened at number 4 with 66,000 US units sold according to the ''Billboard'' 200 trade listing. By September 2010, the album had sold 319,000 copies total. Music videos of the album's songs were each filmed by discrete directors. Tankian revealed: "I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing". Initially some videos were released as limited edition premiums. All videos were later freely offered on Tankian's website and his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel. Some of these "official videos" were alternate versions released one version at a time, suggesting incrementally evolving narrative. Collectible versions of the album include an instrumental disc offered by

Serjical Strike Serjical Strike Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates under Republic Records. Background Serjical Strike was founded in April 2001 by Serj Tankian (lead singer of System of a Down), and has cast away t ...

/ Reprise Records, and the "final master" from Reprise intended for specific journalists and reviewers. That embargoed disc was labeled "Smart Talk" coded reference to the artist's own namePicture of the Elect The Dead promo CD-R
/ref> Previously an undated, un-mastered 'Smart Talk' promo featured these same 'final versions' of the songs, but the sequence of tracks ten and eleven was juxtaposed.

Production

Tankian stated that some of these songs were new, and others had developed earlier. An acoustic version of "Blue" was released on the album's special edition bonus disc. The original version appeared on System of a Down's fourth demo tape but had no other recordings of the song were known to exist. The title track was also recorded by System of a Down during the recording sessions for '' Mezmerize'' and '' Hypnotize'' but this version remains unreleased. An ''Elect the Dead'' tour commenced October 12, 2007 at Chicago's

Vic Theater The Vic Theatre is a music venue located in Chicago, Illinois. Vic Theatre can easily accommodate 1,400 people or with a seated capacity of 1,000. History Vic Theatre, designed by architect John Eberson, opened in 1912 as the Victoria Theatre. ...

. Tankian cautioned fans this production featured a new band, Flying Cunts of Chaos (a.k.a. The F.C.C.), which was not promoting the System of a Down. In 2009, Tankian did a symphonic tour with an orchestra in order to perform symphonic renditions of most of the songs from ''Elect the Dead''. A recording of this tour titled '' Elect the Dead Symphony'' was released February 23, 2010 in the US.

Track listing

Personnel

* All songs written & performed by

(guitars, bass, piano, vocals, synthesizers, drum programming,

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usua ...

, bells) * All songs recorded at

Studios * Produced by Serj Tankian * Engineered by

& Serj Tankian * Mastered by Vlado Meller at

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

Studios in New York City ;''Elect the Dead'' * All drums recorded at The Pass in Los Angeles * Drum engineer Krish Sharma * Assistant drum engineer Bo Joe * Drum technician at The Pass Sako Karaian * Mixed by Neal Avron at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles * Mix assistant Nicholas Fournier * Drumming on tracks 1, 3, 7-9, 11 by

* Drumming on track 2 by

* Drumming on tracks 4 and 5 by Brain and John Dolmayan * Drum programming on track 6 by

* Additional guitar on tracks 1-4, 6, 8, 11 by Dan Monti * Additional bass on tracks 2, 6-9, 11 by Dan Monti * Additional solo guitar on track 5 by Diran Noubar * Additional vocals on tracks 5 and 9 by Ani Maldjian * Additional

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12 by Cameron Stone * Additional

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 by Antonio Pontarelli * Additional synthesizers on track 6 by Dan Monti and Fabrice Favre ;Special edition bonus disc * Drums on track 4 recorded at The Pass in Los Angeles * Additional engineering on track 1 by

Thom Russo Thomas "Thom" Russo is an American record producer, composer, engineer, mixer and songwriter.A&R Craig Aaronson & George Tonikian * Original artwork provided by Sako Shahinian * Album packaging design by Sako Shahinian * Digipack album packaging design by Keith Aazami * Photography by Greg Watermann

Charts

References

External links

''Elect the Dead''
at

Serjical Strike Records Serjical Strike Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates under Republic Records. Background Serjical Strike was founded in April 2001 by Serj Tankian (lead singer of System of a Down), and has cast away t ...

{{Authority control 2007 debut albums Reprise Records albums Serj Tankian albums Albums produced by Serj Tankian Serjical Strike Records albums