Album · Serj Tankian
Elect the Dead by Serj Tankian
Elect the Dead is an album by Serj Tankian, released in 2007. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 31 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Empty Walls”, on 20 lists with a best position of #10.
Elect the Dead, Serj Tankian's first solo album, came out on October 23, 2007, through Reprise and his own Serjical Strike label, and it proves the System of a Down frontman's wild-eyed theatrics travel just fine on their own. Tankian produced it himself and pulled in a tight crew: Dan Monti on guitar and bass, John Dolmayan, his System bandmate, sharing drum duties with Brain, coloratura singer Ani Maldjian, and a string section featuring Antonio Pontarelli.
The result lurches from pummeling riffs to string-laced melodrama, with Tankian's elastic voice leaping around like it's nothing. "Empty Walls" hits hardest, "Sky Is Over" and "The Unthinking Majority" keep the pressure on, and the songs proved sturdy enough that he later reworked the whole album live with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as Elect the Dead Symphony.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Elect the Dead on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Empty Walls | 20 | #10 | – | 2007–2008 | |
| 2 | Sky Is Over | 9 | #38 | – | 2008 | |
| 3 | The Unthinking Majority | 2 | #82 | – | 2007 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.