System Of A Down’s goateed frontman Serj Tankian scored two new and very special films. Furious, The Legend of Kolovrat, follow’s the film’s namesake during the Siege of Ryazan in the year 1237. He learns about the Siege, a massacre, while in Chernigov—miles away. After finding his home and its inhabitants destroyed, Kolovrat unites almost two-thousand able-bodied persons with the purpose of defeating their destroyer, Batu Khan.
Kolovrat and his army squash their oppressors in open rebellion. Truly, who better to score a movie starring a character who’s rage unleashes in search of justice, than Tankian? As the lead singer of the band that wrote “B.Y.O.B.” and “Chop Suey!,” Tankian understands his music essence. The sound is orchestral but with a twist that only Tankian himself could try to describe.
Tankian’s other score of late was written for Intent To Destroy, a documentary about the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The film seeks to extinguish any denial about the facts of the genocide and also asserts its obvious existence. Tankian, a Lebanese-born Armenian-American himself, offered the filmmakers what he has: musical talent and passion for the issue.
The history of Metal regards Tankian among its best. His unique and expansive vocal range lands him squarely at number twenty-six on Hit Parader’s Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists, and at number one with just about anyone who enjoyed his music in the nineties. System Of A Down is a rare case in which a band’s infectiousness spreads to loyalists from other genres. A metal group, System Of A Down released five studio albums. Three or their albums reached number one on Billboard 200. They’ve been nominated for Grammy awards four times, and “B.Y.O.B.” clinched Best Hard Rock Performance back in 2006. Tankian has also released five albums by himself.