Los Angeles' System of a Down combine all the fury of modern alternative metal with the mercurial complexity of progressive rock. From the band to his solo albums, singer Serj Tankian and his four-octave range soar to precipitous heights. Against the symphonic stabs of “The Charade” or the electronic tangles of “Empty Walls”—or “Reconstructive Demonstrations”, where both clash—Tankian's voice shifts from a roar to a strangled sneer, wringing out lines that range from Dadaist imagery to seething political rage.