Harakiri (album)
Tankian has described the album as "the most up-tempo punk rock oriented record that I've written probably since the System days." In the same interview, he also confirmed that a 2013 world tour would likely follow in support of the album. Hara-kiri, also known as seppuku, is a term for the ritual 'honour' suicide of Japanese samurai, with the former term being more common in speech and the latter being more literary, upper-class, and formal. The act involves self-disembowelment with a tantō (a Japanese-style dagger originating in the Heian period), slicing the abdomen from left to right. The album explores ideas of animal suicide. As his two previous releases, the album was produced by Tankian himself at his own studio in Los Angeles. "Harakiri" differs from previous releases as three songs featured in it were initially sketched out on Tankian's iPad. He has himself declared that "we must trick ourselves into writing in different ways to get unexpected results".
"Weave On" was originally written for Prometheus Bound, a musical by Steven Sater. The work was inspired by Aeschylus' tragedy of the same name. "Harakiri" was released on July 10, 2012. Three singles were officially released from the album: "Figure It Out" on May 1, "Cornucopia" on June 4 and the title song "Harakiri" on June 20. "Uneducated Democracy" was also 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 were released for the album. The first, "Figure It Out", was released on May 25. The video features Tankian and members of the public protesting, while businessmen celebrate a bailout. Towards the end, the protesters break into the meeting. The second, "Harakiri", was released on July 11. The video includes quotes from Jean-Paul Sartre and Ralph Waldo Emerson alongside statements on animal suicide, GM crops and obesity, among other issues. An animated video for "Occupied Tears" was also released on July 11 while another animated video, for "Uneducated Democracy", was released on July 19. All songs written and composed by Serj Tankian, except where noted.
Recording and composition
Harakiri is the third studio album by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian.