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Several bands have fallen victim to a category just out of the mere fact of the wrong place at the wrong time, such is the case with Seether’s shameful misconceived identity as “nu-metal”. Hailing from South Africa, Seether is one out of the few bands that come out and say exactly what it is they feel and how they react to it. What leads a band down in history as among the best is their ability to be real and authentic in a world that demands conformity and a fabricated image, such is the case of Pink Floyd and Nirvana, two of which being an influence on Seether’s early development. Aside of lyricist Shaun Morgan’s interesting vocal developments, the musical aspect of the band fits the mood like a glove, providing an all-around attention grabbing experience from the start to finish.
Seether continues to rise in sales success and exposure beginning with a gold selling debut titled “Disclaimer”, a duet with Shaun’s love interest and Evanescence spokesperson Amy Lee on a new version of “Broken” featured on “Disclaimer II”, and a debut at No.8 on the Billboard 200 with help of the first single off of their newest installment “Karma and Effect” titled “Remedy”. Things look good for this band, but the most important thing is to free your mind when purchasing a Seether album. These lines are not conventional “We broke up, now I’m lonely” lyrics, but a take on life in general that seems to reflect a generation growing up with war and poverty instead of milk and cookies. Holding a similar emotional expression as Staind and namely Cold, Seether delves into regions that makes a name for themselves and supply a unique vibe exclusive to them. For any music enthusiast who craves an album to open their minds to different things and actually get use out of the approximate $15 spent on it, Seether’s “Karma and Effect” is a perfect addition.
“Karma and Effect” opens with an intense and heavy track titled “Because Of Me” which expresses a feeling of regret and self-loathing, seemingly as a result of a love turned sour. With the line “Do you believe in love like I believe in pain”, singer/songwriter Shaun Morgan begins the album with an essential view on its “good but bad” reoccurring theme. Following is “Remedy”, a melody driven example of curious lyrics like “I’ll die alone, but not for pleasure...If you want me hold me back”. It is no surprise that this would be the favored introduction to the masses of the content on this album due to its immediate appeal, although many albums, including this one, take repeated listens before it can be appreciated by not just the overall sound but the lyrical structure and musical development. Following is “Truth”, a sound juxtaposition of melodic to heavy amongst the recurring line, “I’m convinced on the inside, something’s wrong with me”. Amongst the entire album, “Truth” holds more of the feel to “Disclaimer” but definitely shows a progression. Next is a relaxed tune that holds the same ground as what you would think as Seether’s emotional highest with the line, “I’m so ashamed of the lie I’m living, I’m right on the wrong side of it all”. For fans of the band, the heavy content is all fine and good, but the “quieter” songs are what tend to have the most impact. Both “Burrito” and Given” are excellent tracks, but tend to get shadowed by the multitude of highlights that surround them including “Never Leave”, which opens with an interesting clean guitar lick, and “World Falls Away” which expresses a feeling of falling deeper into things that are emotionally scarring. One of the best songs on the album has to be “Tongue”, which screams with the line “If I can rise above this, I’ll be saved”, expressing a sense of optimism amongst tragic feelings like “Goodbye cruel world, at last you see me drown”. Following is “I’m The One”, which from start to finish, doesn’t let up in aggression and intensity. This song speaks of a feeling of responsibility for the wrongs previously done to a person that is cared for, as a result of them or not. “Simplest Mistake” is a broody track that screams of betrayal and disappointments, followed by “Diseased” which presents the line “If I decide that I am alive, then I’m diseased and ungrateful”, basically saying you’re d*mned if you do and d*mned if you don’t. The conclusion of Seether’s debut, “Broken”, proved to be a fan favorite, and a mainstream favorite with the help of it’s Amy Lee rendition, so an acoustic finale for “Karma and Effect” seemed to fit. “Plastic Man” finishes the album with just an acoustic guitar and vocals, and again showcases Seether’s emotional strengths among the more personal sounding tunes. With the line, “Someday I’ll sing my last rephrase”, the album leaves on a somber note, or at least until the unlisted comical ditty 4 minutes after with Shaun ranting in South African about the album being over and about drinking.
One thing that makes Seether a good band is their ability to relate to the listener, and for the listener to take the songs and make them their own. The only thing to really get a feel for the band is to actually listen to the songs, and I recommend this album to anyone who may be even remotely interested in the band.
Highlights include, but are not limited to:
Remedy
The Gift
Tongue
Plastic Man
| other reviews of this album |
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Album Rating: 1.5
This is a good, well-written review, but I completely disagree with it. I think you're pumping up something that is not there. You say that this opens your mind, when in fact it's really nothing I've never heard before. The lyrics are okay, but generally predictable and not all that good.
I liked Disclaimer, but this album is not good at all, really. Aside from the occaisonal headbob that the grooves on this album provide, it's all very cookie-cutter, fill-in-the-blank with a slightly different riff and vocal part in every song. No variety, nothing special.
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Good review. But yea, break it up a bit...that was hard to read.
I may get this, I may not...I've gone off Seether, yet i still like to listen to them once in a while. They have a better sound than other bands in their category, and they write good, catchy music.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
I picked up "Disclaimer II," and I'm still undecided about the band. Some of the songs from "Disclaimer" were good, steady music while the others seemed weaker and just noise.
Same applies for the extra tracks: songs like "Sold Me" from The Punisher OST were good, but then there were a couple songs that sounded like garbage.
In my opinion, Seether pretty much hit gold with the songs from Disclaimer (as far as Seether is concerned, anyway) and that's pretty much all the steam they've got in them. I thought the extra material on Disclaimer II was mediocre at best and Karma & Effect is downright poor.
Just my opinion though. Some catchy stuff, but overall it's all very samey, boring stuff. Not trying to discourage you from making your own mind up, though.  This Message Edited On 06.06.05This Message Edited On 06.06.05
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Ah you can't delete comments :confused:
I may pick up this album, I enjoyed Disclaimer.This Message Edited On 06.06.05
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I agree with your review.
The lyrics are average, I guess...they never really stuck out at me. While the original Disclaimer had some good, hard, catchy songs, this album shows they've taken a musical step forward. Instead of the traditional distorted power chords, lead licks and some solos are present. Clean guitar parts are more abundant, and to top it off, they've sort of broken away from the verse-chorus-verse type structure. Many of the songs are even heavier as well. I don't own this yet but I will. I'm still undecided about whether or not it's as good as Disclaimer, but I'm really digging this.
Good review, you just need some help formatting your single gigantic paragraph.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Post, Part II:
Discalimer II was very unecessary. The old version had a raw, harder feel to it while the second version seemed slightly overproduced. Not to mention a few extra worthlessly bad tracks like Broken w/Amy Lee. but still, I guess you might as well spend the same amount of cash to buy more songs. Man I really blew that record up huge with my review of it. Shame I have felt.
Overall this is probably the last modern rock band I can still enjoy. Heavier than most mainstream stuff with some variety.This Message Edited On 06.24.05
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First of all, despite the fact that this review is not about Disclaimer II, i would just like to say that i was expecting alot more from "Karma & Effect" then what i've heard so far. I haven't bought the new CD yet but i have listened to it a little. It's not bad but it doesn't compare to Disclaimer II in my opinion. However, it did take me a while to get use to Disclaimer II...at least a couple listens. Now it's one of my favourite albums, so maybe i just need to give the new album more of a chance.This Message Edited On 09.12.05
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i love this cd
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
This gets an OMG in terms of mass-improvement from Disclaimer (2). I'm really liking this, A LOT!
:eek: Ben likes them!
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I have to say again while listening to this that it's really good. It might even get a higher rating from me. This is a huge surprise.
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I can't get Remedy out of my head.
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my brother bot this album... i liked it alot at first then it got the more slower songs on it... that kinda made me mad i was hopin since it was seether there would be more headbanngers then there are slower ones ..i woulda gave it like a 2.9... dont get me rong its still pretty good
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I kinda liked the first album. But I'm so ****ing tired of hearing "The Remedy" all the time!This Message Edited On 04.23.06
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
mranti, you need to break that up or something, i had to read it five times to get all the info! It was a good review, just break it up.
deathsuicide:
This band is horrible, so bad....not only does it only appeal to 12 year olds. The singer is an obvious wannabe Kurt Cobain.
What a joke
explain to me that their other CD's have parental advisory stickers on them and appeal to 12 year olds at the same time. yes he does sound a bit like Kurt Cobain, but the instruments are a lot different, especially the guitar.
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explain to me that their other CD's have parental advisory stickers on them and appeal to 12 year olds at the same time.
Warning lables work on paper. Not in the real world.
Kids still buy those albums routinely, and parents don't care. Hellm when I was twelve, my parents bought me albums that contained plenty of swearing in them. They didn't care.
The fact is, Seether are marketed to a taget audience of adolescents who are so clueless, they think MTV is telling them how to fight the machine.This Message Edited On 04.26.06
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the radio also makes bands with PA's known for the reasons of making their target audiance buy their albums even if the parents don't approve (I've done taht before ;) )
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Never got into these guys at all, pretty much the same as the other boring bands that always make it onto Superhero movie soundtracks, Seether are like Nickelback, but with more distortion. Same shithouse lyrics and macho posturing.
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That song "remedy" drives me up the wall.
Good review though.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
remedy is overplayed WAY TOO MUCH, although it is very catchy.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Steerpike:
Warning lables work on paper. Not in the real world.
Kids still buy those albums routinely, and parents don't care. Hellm when I was twelve, my parents bought me albums that contained plenty of swearing in them. They didn't care.
The fact is, Seether are marketed to a taget audience of adolescents who are so clueless, they think MTV is telling them how to fight the machine.
i never thought about that about the stickers. thanx
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