System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has thrown himself into the world of scoring as of late, composing music for numerous movies (1915, The Last Inhabitant, Hardcore Henry), TV shows (NBC's short-lived horror anthology Fear Itself), musicals (Prometheus Bound) and video games (Midnight Star, Renegade) over the past eight years.
By the time 2017 wraps up, the musician will have two more notches in his cinematic belt: Following last month's release of the soundtrack for Intent to Destroy (a drama set during the Armenian Genocide), Lakeshore Records is gearing up to put out his score for Furious–The Legend of Kolovrat, a new action-fantasy film based on the 13th-century story of Evpaty Kolovrat, a Russian knight who defended his country from thousands of Mongol warriors. Tankian's compositions for the film will be released digitally tomorrow, December 8th; in the meantime, you can stream his "Kolovrat Theme" below.
A dynamic blend of metal, folk and neoclassical styles, Tankian's Furious—The Legend of Kolovrat score is a direct product of the System of a Down singer's dual passions for history and action movies. "I'm a huge fan of historical action films, so I welcomed the opportunity to create my first epic score for Furious," he says. "We used a full orchestra with epic percussion, a huge choir, ethnic instruments and a wall of electric guitars. It's truly a kickass score."
System of a Down's last album, Hypnotize, came out in 2005. Since then, in addition to the aforementioned scores, Tankian has released six(!) solo albums, most recently 2013's Orca Symphony No. 1. He also formed a jazz-fusion band, Jazz-Iz-Christ, which released its eponymous debut in 2013.
