Filharmonie, Filderstadt, Germany14th April 2008
Serj Tankian, Inme
To most of us Mr. SERJ TANKIAN is very well known as the singer and one of the founding members of the Alternative/Metal formation SYSTEM OF A DOWN. In October 2007 he released ‘Elect the Dead’, his first solo album, in the US and some European countries via Serjical Strike (his own record company) and Reprise Records. And of course he went on tour with his new stuff, and still is touring - he will for example play various summer festivals like the Ozzfest (USA), Sziget (HUN) or Highfield (D) Festival. To his appearance at the Filharmonie in Filderstadt near Stuttgart he had brought with him the UK group INME as a support, who have just released ‘DayDream Anonymous’ via Graphite Records last year. http://www.filharmoniefilderstadt.de/
The group from Brentwood, Essex, UK, originally formed as DROWNED in 1996 signed with MFN in 2001 and changed their name to INME to avoid confusion with the American Christian rock group of the same name. During 2004, however, the record company MFN collapsed and INME were left without a label. They signed with V2 Records and created their own Pandora's Box Records. Their latest and third album, ‘DayDream Anonymous’, appeared in 2007 via Graphite Records. http://www.inmeofficial.co.uk/
Music
INME's musical style is nowadays often labelled as “post-grunge”. In their early days they were attributed to the Nu Metal genre; their latest release, though, shows some tendencies towards progressive fields. Their songs are quite catchy, with simple, though mostly nice riffs. Vocalist Dave's voice is likeable and has this nice British accent, but somehow he has a way of singing you have heard before, this kind of typical performance for this genre. Playing live, their songs sound less perfect and clean, which adds to them in my opinion.
Performance
This night the three guys from the UK opened for SERJ TANKIAN, and they did a pretty good job. At first you got the impression they were a little lost on the big Filharmonie stage, but this picture got overturned quickly. Their performance was very energetic, and they had quite a good light show. They seemed routined, but not too much. Only their interaction with the audience left a lot to be desired.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 6.8
SERJ TANKIAN
SERJ TANKIAN was born in Beirut, Lebanon, his parents originating from Armenia. When he was five years old, his family moved to the United States. He is nowadays known as singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist. He had and still has his greatest success as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative metal band SYSTEM OF A DOWN. In 2002, Serj and Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE) co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. During his musical career, he has released five albums with SYSTEM OF A DOWN; his first solo album, ‘Elect the Dead’, appeared on October 23, 2007. http://www.serjtankian.com/
Music
Listening to SERJ TANKIAN’s solo album, you can't help thinking of SYSTEM OF A DOWN from time to time. The reason for this is above all Tankian's very special and unique voice which you automatically link to SOAD. His musical style also is not very far away from the stuff he does with his main band, although his solo songs are more Rock and less Metal. SERJ TANKIAN does not reinvent the wheel on ‘Elect the Dead’, but he has created some really good songs with intelligent, dedicated lyrics. What is also noticeable is that he plays quite a lot of the instruments on the album himself.
Performance
The main impression I got from his concert in the Filharmonie was that SERJ TANKIAN is a fantastic entertainer, but his songs did not really convince me when played live on stage. He appeared in front of his fans in a white jacket and hat and was enthusiastically welcomed. His performance was great, his voice always impressive as well as his strong stage presence, and he talked a lot to the audience and about some political situations. But musically the spark did not really jump across. Too routined maybe, I don't know what the exact reason was, but you could feel the mood in the Filharmonie getting less exalted during the set. But maybe we had all expected too much from him.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 3
Total: 6.5
All pictures by Ruth Gräbeldinger (http://www.alpha-photography.net/)
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