Elect the Dead is the debut solo album by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian. He played most of the instruments himself but did get help from System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and former Primus/current Guns N' Roses drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, along with Dan Monti on guitar and bass, opera singer Ani Maldjian and some string players, Antonio Pontarelli among them. tankian.htm" target="_blank">Serj Tankian biography on SOADFans fansite The album was leaked on October 18, 2007. The official tour for Elect the Dead commenced on October 12 with a show at Chicago's Vic theater.

The first concert had roughly 1,000 people attending, in a medium sized venue. Although Serj had stated he would not be performing any of System of a Down's material, he had performed Charades, a song co-written by Daron Malakian, the guitarist of System of a Down. Although it is originally a song restricted to piano and vocals, Serj used his backing band, The FCC, to provide guitars, drums and bass.

Tankian has stated that while some of the songs are new, a lot of them have been with him for a while. The first singles off the album were "_The Unthinking Majority" and "Empty Walls". The song "Saving Us" was released on Tankian's Last.fm page and his MySpace. The video for "Feed Us" was released on the Swedish and UK MTV. Serj appeared on MTV's You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect The Dead. He participated in a number of skits featuring himself playing the roles of producer, director, and other various duties.

Until now two different promo versions of the album have surfaced to the public. The instrumental promo (PRO-CD-102124), issued by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records and intended for the music and movie industry, contains instrumental versions of the 12 regular album tracks. Another promo version, issued by Reprise Records and made only for individual reviewers, features the regular album in final master form. This release, which was labeled "Smart Talk" as a codename for "Serj Tankian" to prevent leaking by unauthorized persons, also indicates that the album was finalized prior to . .

The album has been met with very positive reception by both critics and fans alike.

"Beethoven's C***" was recently added as a downloadable track to the video game Rock Band.