Only a few weeks before a reunited System of a Down heads out for an East Coast tour (the band’s first United States tour in at least six years), eccentric front man Serj Tankian releases his latest solo album Harakiri following 2010’s Elect the Dead Symphony and Imperfect Harmonies. Based on his introspection and observations throughout 2011, Harakiri is one of his most diverse, yet consistent, releases to date. And for the most part it tones down the metal tendencies he’s best known for, focusing more on pop, electronic and punk-like elements and song structures.

Named after the Japanese term for ritualistic suicide, the album and its title track were inspired by reports of birds and fish committing mass suicide. Oddly one of the album’s most triumphant-sounding songs, Tankian lyrically explores the idea that maybe Mother Nature knows something we don’t and that these animals have an inherent knowledge of when their time has come on “Harakiri.” Musically and lyrically, “Harakiri” stands in stark contrast to the more upbeat and angsty opening track “Butterfly,” a less optimistic song about man’s mechanical routines and their effects on nature.

“Figure It Out,” with it’s Slayer-like guitar riff and Mike Patton-like vocal delivery, is the most System-sounding song on Harakiri. As a result, it’s also one of the most fun tracks on the album, despite its socio-political underpinnings. Tankian’s oft-employed use of gypsy melodies and ethnic sounds arise on “Ching Chime,” another inquisitive look at the importance of money and material objects over the betterment of humanity.

Speaking of the betterment of humanity, “Reality TV” is thematically like Tankian’s updated version of Public Enemy‘s “She Watch Channel Zero?!” with it’s comedic chorus, “I abhor the whore who calls herself reality.” That leads right into the very Dead Kennedys-like “Uneducated Democracy,” with its punk rock pacing and political themes. And “Deafening Silence” is a more subdued trance-like track that dabbles in electronica.

Overall, Harakiri is probably Tankian’s most pop-oriented endeavor yet. But I guess pop standards are a little bit different when referring to someone who has been known to play speed metal with odd time signatures, only to later have the Aukland Philharmonia Orchestra serve briefly as his backing band. But unlike the birds and fish that inspired Harakiri (and considering that Tankian has already recorded three Harakiri companion albums for future release), this album clearly isn’t the death of Tankian’s career. But the ritualistic manner in which it was recorded and has been presented might just be in keeping with the message those mass suicides were trying to convey. And Tankian is likely the only person who could adequately explain what that message might have been.

For more information, go to www.serjtankian.com.