Review Summary: Nothing original, but will please Seether fans and fans of the post-grunge genre in general
Seether are a band that only really appeal to a small group of people, these being angsty teens and young adults. No one over the age of 40 is going to have Remedy as their mobile ringtone. Seether know this, and so stick to one formula for writing material, very rarely stepping outside the proverbial box. This goes for all of their albums, including their latest effort 'Isolate & Medicate'. It is unoriginal, formulaic and basically a re-hash of all their previous albums. Despite all this, it is a very enjoyable album, or at least it is for fans of the band/genre.
Seether have no need to try to appeal to a wider audience, they're "rollin' in dough" as it is with their strong fanbase. Because of this, they have no need to experiment with different genres, sounds and song structures. In the short run, this is a good idea, as keeping to your same song structures and formulas will please fans and prevent alienating them. Basically, you're guaranteed to sell albums, your loyal fanbase will buy anything you put out as long as it is recognisable as your merchandise. But in the long run, this is a bad idea, as even the most loyal fans will grow tired of the same hard-but-softly Seether songs. So, hopefully, Isolate & Medicate will be Seethers final generic release and next time, they will delve into a new sound.
As a whole, Isolate & Medicate is a good album. Its cohesive, poetically written, and will hit the spot hard for Seether fans. The album opens strongly with 'See You at the Bottom', a song with heavy distorted guitars, Shaun Morgans soaring voice and crashing drums. But aren't all Seether songs basically just that? Pretty much, yeah. 'Crash' is a softer power ballad, not unlike 'The Gift'. Its a decent song, however it suffers heavily in originality. It contains recycled lyrics, and a recycled theme. The rest of the songs are all at heart, the same. They're largely listenable, they're good songs that Seether fans will lap up. But to anyone else, its just another angsty teen album full of rebellious, heart-ache filled lyrics. 'Words as Weapons' is so brutally obviously written for radio its unreal. Not to say it's a bad song, it's just nothing new. Thats really how this album can be summed up, Not bad, but nothing new.
(It is however a massive improvement over Holding Onto Strings)
