Serj's Conscious Awareness Very Scary on Harikari

Serj Tankian does a bang-up job of playing the hard rock inmate who's running the asylum. "Harikari" amounts to one long defiant shout in the face of widespread ignorance and alienation. He's at his best in preacher mode. Nowhere is this ace in the hole posture clearer than on short raw bursts of adrenaline like "Figure It Out". His guitar's cranked up to twelve and he's intellectually armed for bear. His riff roaring acknowledges no restraint. If "Fuck it. Let's figure it out" doesn't get his herd mentality dictated point across clearly enough than the exercise is in vain. Serj deserves some sort of humanitarian medal for having had the won tons to cry out the words "I abhor the whore who calls herself Reality TV. During a time where the boob tube is hyper saturated with shades of this voyeuristic dreck it's good to know one voice of reason still exists. "Reality TV" is grimy as a Middle Eastern casbah room teeming with potential harem babes. "Uneducated Democracy" bears full fang to speak out against how inexcusable an ignorant populace is. Serj's stream-of-consciousness wordplay serves him well in this instance. There's a rocket booster intensity afoot that explodes with each note. "Harikari" continues to see Serj sharpening his already impressive gifts of observation.