Suds on Bleeker

I’ll say this about Serj Tankian – the man is fearless.

That’s the only way to describe his latest solo project, Elect The Dead Symphony, which saw him get up in front of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, a 70-piece ensemble, (in a dashing white suit no less!) and perform completely new orchestral arrangements of his heavy metal material.  And make no mistake, this wasn’t a Metallica S&M style concert, where the electric guitars and yelling were accompanied by bombastic orchestral scores.  No, this was an entirely new imagining of his songs as purely symphonic pieces.

Sound like a huge disaster?  Well, Serj does have at least one thing going for him in this regard and that’s his voice.  Simply put, Serj has a massive set of pipes, a huge range, and anyone familiar with his work in System of a Down knows that his singing has a uniquely operatic style.

Unfortunately, just because his voice may be up to this monumental task does not mean that his songs are.

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