Serj Tankian, frontman and lead vocalist for System of a Down composed the music for a mobile sci-fi shooter video game called Midnight Star back in 2015. Tankian said, “I’m now happy to share with you the 23 track soundtrack for the game, filled with plenty of hard hitting, up-tempo and grandiose musical cues that accentuate the futuristic, fast paced gameplay of Midnight Star.”
Tankian said, “Although the game is no longer available for download via the iOS App Store, I really wanted to share the music from the game with you.” Midnight Star is a first-person shooter video game developed by Industrial Toys, the company’s debut product. It was released on February 5, 2015 for iOS devices. Set 120 years into the future, the game takes players aboard the MSRV-Joplin, a research vessel newly outfitted with military weaponry to explore a mysterious signal coming from within the Solar System.
Tankian also added, “The score features rapid fire beats, banging percussion, dark, driving electronic soundscapes and lush but anxiety ridden strings & symphonic elements. I hope it’s a soundtrack you enjoy.” Aside from the new music for Midnight Star, the band System of a Down will be hitting performing at Chicago’s Open Air Festival May 18-19 alongside Ghost, Tool, The Prodigy, and Gojira as well as the Stone Temple Festival with Foo Fighters, Disturbed, Bring Me The Horizon, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts May 17-19th in Columbus, Ohio.
Tankian recently composed the score for Spitak an upcoming film set in Armenia that deals with the aftermath of devastating magnitude 6.8 earthquake in 1988. He also collaborated with Jimmy Urine the lead singer of the electro-punk band Mindless Self Indulgence in “If It Ain’t You Today It Will be You Tomorrow.”
Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan (Serart), as well as the five solo albums Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies, Harakiri, Orca, and Jazz-Iz-Christ. In 2002, Tankian and Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. On August 12, 2011, Tankian was awarded the Armenian Prime Minister’s Medal for his contributions to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the advancement of music.
He is ranked as one of the greatest vocalists in metal history. He has a moderately-high and diverse vocal range, not only in metal, but in all of popular music, with a range of 4.2 octaves. This range is comparable to Rob Halford, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Anthony Kiedis, Hansi Kürsch, and Steven Tyler (range of four octaves and one note). Tankian recently provided vocals on Ara Malikian’s song “The Rough Dog” which he described as a “totally whacky fun track I sang on about a dog.” “The Rough Dog” will appear on Malikian’s forthcoming album, Royal Garage.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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