Maps of Music

Harakiri (2012)

Where the lyrics of Harakiri take you, and where it was really made.

The title is a Japanese word for ritual suicide, and the album's work began on the day Tankian wrote about a 2011 fire and mass animal deaths.

Key places

Where Harakiri was recorded (2012)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Harakiri was recorded at Serjical Strike Studios in Los Angeles. The pin uses the city centre, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Extra recording for track 11 (2012)

Recording site Wooly Mammoth Sound — Additional recording on track 11 took place at Wooly Mammoth Sound in Waltham, Massachusetts. The pin uses the town centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Harakiri: third studio album by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian
• Released July 10, 2012 as a follow-up to his 2010 album Imperfect Harmonies
• First of four albums then upcoming, the others being Orca, Jazz-Iz-Christ and Fuktronic

Background

• Hara-kiri, also known as seppuku, is a term for the ritual 'honour' suicide of Japanese samurai
• The act involves self-disembowelment with a tantō, slicing the abdomen from left to right
• The album explores ideas of animal suicide
• Tankian called it the most up-tempo punk rock oriented record he had written, probably since the System days
• He also said a 2013 world tour would likely follow in support of the album

Recording

• Produced by Tankian himself at his own studio in Los Angeles, as with his two previous releases
• Recorded at Serjical Strike Studios, Los Angeles, CA
• Additional recording on track 11 at Wooly Mammoth Sound, Waltham, MA
• Three songs were first sketched out on Tankian's iPad
• 'Weave On' was originally written for Prometheus Bound, a musical by Steven Sater, inspired by Aeschylus' tragedy of the same name

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born August 21, 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents.
• Moved to Los Angeles at age 7 during the Lebanese Civil War.
• Known as lead vocalist and primary lyricist of System of a Down, formed in 1994.

Career

• Five albums with System of a Down; five solo albums including Elect the Dead (2007), Imperfect Harmonies (2010), Harakiri (2012), Orca Symphony No. 1 (2013), and Elasticity (2021).
• Co-founded the activist organization Axis of Justice with Tom Morello in 2002.
• Composed music for film and television, including I Am Not Alone (2019) and Netflix's Down to Earth with Zac Efron.
• Published the memoir Down With the System in 2024.

Recognition

• Ranked No. 26 on Hit Parader's "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" (2006).
• Awarded the Armenian Prime Minister's Medal in 2011.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Released July 10, 2012
• Three singles officially released: 'Figure It Out' on May 1, 'Cornucopia' on June 4, and the title song 'Harakiri' on June 20
• 'Uneducated Democracy' was made available for streaming on Record Store Day
• The whole album was streamed at Red Bull USA on July 2, eight days before its release
• Two live-action music videos: 'Figure It Out' released May 25, and 'Harakiri' released July 11
• The 'Figure It Out' video shows Tankian and members of the public protesting while businessmen celebrate a bailout, and the protesters break into the meeting toward the end
• The 'Harakiri' video includes quotes from Jean-Paul Sartre and Ralph Waldo Emerson alongside statements on animal suicide, GM crops and obesity, among other issues
• Animated videos followed: 'Occupied Tears' on July 11 and 'Uneducated Democracy' on July 19
• The album's cover and art direction are credited to Tankian in the Discogs credits

Records

• Released in Brazil and France by the Portuguese and French wiki sources as a worldwide release on July 10, 2012
• The album marks the first of four then-upcoming albums by Tankian

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Two live-action music videos were released for the album, and the 'Figure It Out' clip ends with protesters breaking into a businessmen's meeting.
• Tankian has said the work began on the day he started writing the new album, after a fire in Piha, New Zealand, in 2011 and reports of dead fish and birds worldwide.
• Three songs were first sketched on Tankian's iPad, which he said was a way to trick himself into writing differently.
• The whole album was streamed at Red Bull USA on July 2, eight days before its release.
• 'Weave On' was first written for a Steven Sater musical based on Aeschylus' tragedy Prometheus Bound.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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