Serj Tankian Releasing New Albums ‘Jazz-iz Christ’ & ‘Orca’ Midyear

Hope for a new System Of A Down album has been dealt a serious blow today with news that frontman Serj Tankian will be furthering his solo career. Tankian has revealed plans to release not one but two brand-new albums later this year, both showing very different sides of the musician.

It’s never just going to be a standard album with Tankian. The first of the two newbies, Orca, was a crowdfunded initiative, performed and recorded live with the Das Karussell Orchestra. Supporters dished out $25,000 for the campaign which was used to finance mixing, mastering, and promotion. As previously reported, Orca is “a mix of early 20th-century compositional styles combined with the powerful range of film scoring”.

In the official announcement, Tankian stated, “Orca is known as the killer whale, but is really a dark dolphin, a symbolism for human dichotomy.” The album drops in the US on 25th June, with an Australian date sure to come soon.

The second of the two newbies explores a totally different region of the System vocalist’s musical universe. Jazz-iz Christ will have a strong lean towards the jazz side of things, as you may have guessed, and has been given the US street date of 23rd July. Not so much a jazz record as it is “an amalgam of progressive jazz, electronic, ethnic and even rock elements”, Jazz-iz Christ is also said to feature a run of relevant guest artists including renowned pianist Tigran Hamasyan, flautist Valeri Tolstov, and trumpet player Tom Duprey.

Both albums will be available for pre-order through the official website.

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