Serj Tankian Returns with Ten-Week Album Rollout Featuring Chris de Burgh Cover
Serj Tankian has announced a new album titled Covers, Collaborations & Collages, scheduled for release on October 24, 2025, through Serjical Strike Records/Create Music Group. The project launches with “Electric Dreams,” the first of ten tracks to be released weekly leading up to the full album.
Artist: Serj Tankian
Release Date: 2025-10-24
Genres: Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Folk Rock, Hard Rock
Label: Create Music Group, Serjical Strike Records
The collection features archival recordings that Tankian describes as existing material given new context. The System of a Down vocalist will collaborate with producers and artists including Deadmau5, Bic Runga, and composer Lucas Vidal across the ten-week rollout.
Artist D.S. Bradford provides artwork for each single and the album cover, also contributing guitar work to “Kneeling Away From The Sun.” Tankian positions the project as a companion to previous archival material, stating these are “pre-existing archival recordings, some of them from way back.”
The album includes Tankian‘s interpretation of Chris de Burgh‘s “I’m Counting On You” and a version of Armenian songwriter Ruben Hakhverdyan‘s “When Death Arrives.” The collaboration with Deadmau5 produces “A Seed,” while Bic Runga appears on “Things Unspoken.”
“Apocalyptic Dance,” the track with Lucas Vidal, features Tankian performing over orchestral arrangements, with lyrics referencing the absence of empires and burning campfires. The release strategy involves weekly singles, each accompanied by Tankian‘s commentary on the creative process behind the recordings.
Tankian plans to document the inspiration and artistic intentions for each track throughout the release period. The material represents a mix of covers, collaborations, and what he terms “collages” that maintain thematic consistency across the collection.
Serj Tankian was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1967 to Armenian parents and moved to Los Angeles at age seven during the Lebanese Civil War. He attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School alongside future System of a Down bandmates Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadjian. He graduated from California State University, Northridge with a marketing degree in 1989. Tankian formed System of a Down in 1994, releasing five studio albums with the band: System of a Down, Toxicity, Steal This Album!, Mezmerize, and Hypnotize. His solo catalog includes Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies, Harakiri, Orca Symphony No. 1, and the Elasticity EP. He co-founded the political activism organization Axis of Justice with Tom Morello in 2002. Tankian received the Armenian Prime Minister’s Medal in 2011 for his contributions to Armenian genocide recognition and music advancement. He married Angela Madatyan in 2012 and lives between New Zealand and Los Angeles.
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