Truly Wicked
From the first listen, Serj Tankian's new single is something quite special; a tune that enchants you with its rough seduction and will intrigue you time after time. A driving piano melody with flutterings of exciting leads into a crushing refrain of "Lie lie lie lie lie", and so on, which in normal cases would be a rather cheap tune, but Tankian's words are gold coated and draw you into the theatrical verses. The singer's characteristic half snarling vocals have lost none of their drama or expression and the whole thing has the bizarre, yet epic quality of a Gogol Bordello tune about it, this is art punk at its finest, backed by ferocious guitar chords. It's a twisted fairytale with a tragic ending for Tankian's female companion, whose sweet vocals add yet another complexity to the song.
Amidst a flood of Christmas tunes, this single, released digitally on 24th December, should really cut through the chaff in the charts if there's any justice in the world.