RIYL: …give us a minute…
Serj Tankian’s first solo album, 2007’s Elect the Dead, was certainly less metal than anything he put out with System of a Down, but it still had an edge to it, a certain level of manic insanity that captured the craziness of SOAD’s best tracks, even if the heavy metal thunder was lacking. Plus, it had a song called “Beethoven’s C*nt,” and that shit’s just funny.
This shit, however, is just shit. While Elect the Dead barely had enough metal in it to quality as a metal album, Imperfect Harmonies barely has enough in it qualify as a rock album. If it wasn’t for Serj’s ever-crazy vocal delivery, tracks like “Beatus” and “Borders Are…” would be cleared to play on your local soft-rock radio station, sandwiched in between Phil Collins and Peter Cetera rockers. Even with all the surreal lyrics and occasional stellar vocal performance by Serj, nothing can change the fact that the music behind his madness, on every single track, is an unwavering blah of mid-tempo, violin-driven sludge (not sludge-metal, just sludge) devoid of any memorable melody or hook. The symphonic sound on Imperfect Harmonies sucks the rock right out if it, and in fact, it just kind of sucks all together. (Reprise/Serjical Strike 2010)
