Serart

Far from the metallic thrash of his full time band, System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian teams up with avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and fellow Armenian Arto Tuncboyaciyan to record this album of musical soundscapes and noisy interludes. Some of the 16 tracks are actual songs, others are minimalist percussion and/or vocal passages all with a distinctive Middle Eastern flavour. Some of it works well, some not so well, but it's never dull or lacking imagination. Anyone familiar with SOAD's experimental nature probably shouldn't be too surprised that Tankian is branching out into new directions, but they also shouldn't be expecting a mosh pit if they ever take this project on the road.