Elect the Dead

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox album | name = Elect the Dead | type = studio | artist = Serj Tankian | cover = FinalElect_The_Dead.jpg | alt = | released = October 23, 2007 | recorded = Serjical Strike Dungeons, The Pass (Los Angeles) | venue = | studio = | genre = *Alternative rock<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 22, 2007 |title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead Review |url=http://music.ign.com/articles/829/829188p1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214162650/http://music.ign.com/articles/829/829188p1.html |archive-date=February 14, 2012 |website=IGN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Partridge |first=Kenneth |date=2010-08-11 |title=SERJ TANKIAN + Elect the Dead Symphony |url=https://mmusicmag.com/m/2010/08/serj-tankian-elect-the-dead-symphony/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=M Music & Musicians Magazine}}</ref> *hard rock<ref name="AM"/> *heavy metal<ref name="GUR"/> | length = 45:03 | label = *Reprise *Serjical Strike | producer = Serj Tankian | prev_title = Serart | prev_year = 2003 | next_title = Lie Lie Live | next_year = 2008 | misc = {{Extra chronology | type = studio | artist = Serj Tankian studio album | prev_title = | prev_year = | title = Elect the Dead | year = 2007 | next_title = Imperfect Harmonies | next_year = 2010 }} {{Extra album cover | header = Alternative cover | type = album | cover = Elect the dead.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = }} {{Extra album cover | header = Special edition cover | type = album | cover = Elect the dead2.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = }} {{Singles | name = Elect the Dead | type = studio | single1 = The Unthinking Majority | single1date = July 30, 2007 | single2 = Empty Walls | single2date = September 10, 2007 | single3 = Lie Lie Lie | single3date = December 24, 2007 | single4 = Sky Is Over | single4date = January 16, 2008<ref>[http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=88584 SERJ TANKIAN Paints Grim Picture With 'Sky Is Over' - Jan. 16, 2008]</ref> }} }} {{Music ratings |MC = 68/100<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/elect-the-dead|title=Elect The Dead|publisher=Metacritic}}</ref> |rev1 = AbsolutePunk |rev1score = (69%)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=7904869&posted=1#post7904869|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead - Album Review|date=August 3, 2023 |publisher=AbsolutePunk}}</ref> |rev2 = AllMusic |rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="AM">[https://www.allmusic.com/album/elect-the-dead-mw0000490198 AllMusic review]</ref> |rev3 = Billboard |rev3score = (favorable)<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Elect the Dead - Serj Tankian|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i7b7f6bee78014d1741a570207ff7cd8d|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023025721/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i7b7f6bee78014d1741a570207ff7cd8d|archive-date=October 23, 2007|magazine=Billboard}}</ref> |rev4 = Robert Christgau |rev4score = {{Rating-Christgau|dud}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=serj|title=CG: serj|publisher=Robert Christgau}}</ref>

|rev10=The Guardian

|rev10score={{rating|3|5}}<ref name="GUR">{{cite web |title=CD: Serj Tankian, Elect the Dead |date=2007-10-25 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202083222/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/26/popandrock.shopping1 |archive-date=2020-12-02 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/26/popandrock.shopping1}}</ref> |rev5 = IGN |rev5score = (7.1/10)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://music.ign.com/articles/829/829188p1.html|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead Review|publisher=IGN|access-date=October 30, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101052142/http://music.ign.com/articles/829/829188p1.html|archive-date=November 1, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> |rev6 = Kerrang! |rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}} |rev7 = Music Emissions |rev7score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/albums/index.php?album_id=7507|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead Review|publisher=Music Emissions|access-date=December 5, 2007|archive-date=July 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716030918/http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/albums/index.php?album_id=7507|url-status=dead}}</ref> |rev8 = NME |rev8score = {{Rating|6|10}} <small>(October 27, 2007, p.39)</small> |rev9 = Rolling Stone |rev9score = {{Rating|2.5|5}} }} '''''Elect the Dead''''' is the debut solo studio album by Armenian-American rock musician Serj Tankian. It was released on October 23, 2007, through Reprise Records and Tankian's Serjical Strike Records. Alongside Tankian appears Armenian-American coloratura Ani Maldjian, drummers John Dolmayan (Tankian's System of a Down bandmate) and Brain, guitarist and bassist Dan Monti, as well as a string section featuring Antonio Pontarelli.<ref name="SOADfans">[http://soadfans.com/Serj_tankian.htm Serj Tankian biography on SOADFans fansite] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816000810/http://www.soadfans.com/Serj_tankian.htm |date=August 16, 2007 }}</ref>

==Production== Tankian, best known for being the lead singer of the heavy metal band System of a Down, stated that some of the songs on ''Elect the Dead'' 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 in 1997, but 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 their 2005 albums ''Mezmerize'' and ''Hypnotize'', though this version remains unreleased.

{{cquote|It's very wide sounding&nbsp;— lots of different sounding instruments. The excitement I had making this record was the same excitement I had making the first System record.|author=Serj Tankian|source=in an interview with ''Billboard.com''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graff |first=Gary |date=April 27, 2007 |title=SOAD's Serj Tankian Finishing Up Solo Debut |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/soads-serj-tankian-finishing-up-solo-debut-1052500/ |access-date=October 19, 2024 |website=Billboard.com}}</ref>}}

==Marketing and touring== 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<ref>[http://www.mtv.se Swedish MTV]</ref> and on UK MTV.<ref>[http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtv2/music/18102007/377636/hear_serj_tankians_album_here UK MTV] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201203518/http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtv2/music/18102007/377636/hear_serj_tankians_album_here |date=February 1, 2009 }}</ref> The album was released on October 22, 2007, and opened at number 4 with 66,000 US units sold according to the ''Billboard'' 200 trade listing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=83849 |title=Blabbermouth.Net - Serj Tankian, Rob Zombie, Soilwork, Exodus, Skindred First-Week Sales Revealed |publisher=Roadrunnerrecords.com |access-date=February 14, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102054814/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=83849 |archive-date=November 2, 2007 }}</ref> By September 2010, the album had sold 319,000 copies total.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/sales_ur.cgi?092110 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103081441/http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/sales_ur.cgi?092110 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 3, 2013 |title=Upcoming Releases |publisher=HITS Daily Double |access-date=February 14, 2012 }}</ref>

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".<ref>[http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=79584 System of a Down Frontman To Post Videos For Each Track On Forthcoming Solo Album] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606233015/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=79584 |date=June 6, 2011 }}</ref> Initially, some videos were released as limited edition premiums. All videos (with exception of "Money") were later freely offered on Tankian's website and his YouTube channel. Some of these "official videos" were alternate versions released one version at a time, suggesting an incrementally evolving narrative.

Collectible versions of the album include an instrumental disc offered by Reprise and Serjical Strike Records, and the "final master" from Reprise intended for specific journalists and reviewers. That embargoed disc was labeled "Smart Talk" [a coded reference to the artist's own name].<ref>[http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/39153/2002058948060913209_rs.jpg Picture of the Elect The Dead promo CD-R]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</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.

An ''Elect the Dead'' tour commenced October 12, 2007, at Chicago's Vic Theater. 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 on February 23, 2010, in the US.

==Track listing== {{track listing | all_writing = Serj Tankian | title1 = Empty Walls | length1 = 3:49 | title2 = The Unthinking Majority | length2 = 3:46 | title3 = Money | length3 = 3:53 | title4 = Feed Us | length4 = 4:31 | title5 = Saving Us | length5 = 4:41 | title6 = Sky Is Over | length6 = 2:57 | title7 = Baby | length7 = 3:31 | title8 = Honking Antelope | length8 = 3:50 | title9 = Lie Lie Lie | length9 = 3:33 | title10 = Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition | length10 = 4:23 | title11 = Beethoven's Cunt | length11 = 3:13 | title12 = Elect the Dead | length12 = 2:54 | total_length = 45:03 }}

{{track listing | headline = iTunes and Japanese version bonus track | title13 = The Reverend King | length13 = 2:49 | total_length = 47:52 }}

{{track listing | headline = Special edition bonus disc | title1 = Blue | length1 = 2:45 | title2 = Empty Walls | note2 = Acoustic | length2 = 3:46 | title3 = Feed Us | note3 = Acoustic | length3 = 4:21 | title4 = Falling Stars | length4 = 3:05 | total_length = 14:17 }}

==Personnel== * Serj Tankian: songwriting, production, engineering, guitars, bass, piano, vocals, synthesizers, drum programming, melodica, bells * Dan Monti: engineering

{{Col-begin}} {{col-2}} ;''Elect the Dead''

* Brain: drums (1, 3–5, 7–9, 11) * John Dolmayan: drums (2, 4–5) * Dan Monti: drum programming (6), guitar (1–4, 6, 8, 11), bass (2, 6–9, 11), synthesizers (6) * Diran Noubar: guitar solo (5) * Ani Maldjian: additional vocals (5, 9) * Cameron Stone: cello (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12) * Antonio Pontarelli: violin (1, 3, 4, 6, 8) * Fabrice Favre: synthesizers (6) * Krish Sharma: drum engineer * Bo Joe: Assistant drum engineer * Sako Karaian: drum technician * Neal Avron: mixing * Nicholas Fournier: mix assistant {{col-2}} ;Special edition bonus disc * Antonio Pontarelli: violin (2–4) * Cameron Stone: cello (2–4) * Dan Monti: additional guitars (4) * John Dolmayan: drums (4) * Thom Russo: engineering (1) * Serj Tankian & Dan Monti: mixing (1–3) * Krish Sharma: drum engineer (4) * Bo Joe: assistant drum engineer (4) * Sako Karaian: drum technician (4) * Neal Avron: mixing (4) * Nicholas Fournier: mix assistant (4)

{{col-end}} * Craig Aaronson & George Tonikian: A&R * Sako Shahinian: artwork, album packaging design * Keith Aazami: digipack album packaging design * Greg Watermann: photography

==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |- !scope="col"|Chart (2007) !scope="col"|Peak<br>position |- !scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|19 |- !scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|language=de|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|5 |- !scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/album/fc82/Serj-Tankian-Elect-The-Dead|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|language=nl|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|64 |- !scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/album/fc82/Serj-Tankian-Elect-The-Dead|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|language=fr|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|50 |- !scope="row"|Canadian Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/serj-tankian/chart-history/cna/|title=Serj Tankian Chart History (Canadian Albums)|publisher=Billboard|access-date=November 20, 2025}}</ref> |align="center"|3 |- !scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|language=nl|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|45 |- !scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|12 |- !scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|language=fr|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|23 |- !scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-64642|title=Offizielle Deutsche Charts|publisher=offiziellecharts.de|language=de|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|10 |- !scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://italiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|43 |- !scope="row"|Japanese Album Charts (Oricon)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/256658/products/732907/1/|title=エレクト ザ・デッド {{!}} サージ タンキアン|publisher=Oricon|language=ja|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|55 |- !scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|14 |- {{album chart|Scotland|33|date=20071028|rowheader=true|access-date=October 31, 2021}} |- !scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Serj+Tankian&titel=Elect+The+Dead&cat=a|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|36 |- !scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/album/Serj-Tankian/Elect-The-Dead-64642|title=Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead|publisher=Hung Medien|accessdate=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|11 |- !scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/3360/serj-tankian/|title=Serj Tankian {{!}} full Chart History |publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|26 |- !scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/serj-tankian/chart-history/tlp/|title=Serj Tankian Chart History (Billboard 200)|publisher=Billboard|access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> |align="center"|4 |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090423081732/http://www.serjicalstrike.com/site/releases.php ''Elect the Dead''] at Serjical Strike Records

{{Serj Tankian}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2007 debut albums Category:Reprise Records albums Category:Serj Tankian albums Category:Albums produced by Serj Tankian Category:Serjical Strike Records albums