Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian stands out as the founding member and frontman of the metal group System of a Down, where his distinctive voice, sharp wit, and outspoken political engagement have anchored his presence in rock music for years. The Armenian-American artist and producer joined his Grammy-winning bandmates on three early-2000s releases that reached the top of the charts—Toxicity, Mezmerize, and Hypnotize—before the outfit entered an indefinite hiatus. His initial solo outing, Elect the Dead, appeared in 2007, followed by further studio albums such as Orca in 2013, live recordings including the 2023 collection Invocations, assorted joint projects, and film scores for titles like 1915 in 2016, Furious in 2017, and Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street in 2023.

Tankian entered the world on August 21, 1967, in Beirut, Lebanon, and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1975. After completing marketing studies at California State University and launching a software firm, he formed System of a Down in 1995. The group joined Rick Rubin’s American label in 1998, issuing five albums over the ensuing seven years; Toxicity, their second effort, propelled them to prominence within metal circles, earned a Grammy nomination, and achieved multi-platinum sales. Capitalizing on that platform, Tankian co-established the nonprofit Axis of Justice alongside Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, to channel his lyrical political concerns into activism. He stayed involved with System of a Down through the mid-2000s, securing a Grammy for “B.Y.O.B.” in 2006 and adding two more chart-topping releases, while also publishing the poetry volume Cool Gardens.

At the height of their success in May 2006, SOAD declared an open-ended break. Tankian used the pause to prepare Elect the Dead, which surfaced in fall 2007 and climbed to number four on the Billboard 200 while yielding his first solo Hot 100 entry, “Empty Walls.” Three years afterward he collaborated with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra on Elect the Dead Symphony, reworking selections from the debut with orchestral accompaniment. Imperfect Harmonies, his next solo record, extended that symphonic approach, whereas the 2012 album Harakiri shifted toward a harder-rock orientation. Following Orca Symphony No. 1 in 2013, Tankian concentrated on scoring, contributing to films including 1915, Furious, and Spitak as well as the video game Midnight Star.

In 2020 he partnered with Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence on the joint release Fuktronic. That same year System of a Down resurfaced after more than a decade with the charity single “Protect the Land” b/w “Genocidal Humanoidz,” benefiting the Armenia Fund. Although the reunion raised expectations, activity tapered, prompting Tankian to issue the EP Elasticity, which gathered tracks originally intended for the band. Invocations arrived in 2023 as a fifteen-track operatic work drawn from unused film and television material and paired with vocal-human samples. Also in 2023 he supplied the score for the documentary Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street.