Seether

Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces

Written by: PP on 28/01/2008 02:39:27

You guys still remember Seether? The hard rock/post-grunge band that burst into the top quartile of the Billboard.com modern rock chart with their 2002 debut \"Disclaimer\", which featured \"Fine Again\", \"Driven Under\" and other \'classic\' Seether songs? Although not quite aligned to my usual music taste, it was an album that revolved in my CD player for quite some time, introducing me to the hard rock scene where other bands like Smile Empty Soul, Staind and Nickelback could be found roughly in the same stages of their career as Seether. Well, since then the band has been putting out albums pretty much year-on-year, and here we are today standing with the group\'s fourth (if you don\'t count \"Fragile\") album \"Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces\".

Fans of the band will be delighted to hear that on the new record, Seether still sounds exactly like on \"Disclaimer\", aside from the tighter production. Guitarist/Vocalist Shaun Morgan is still spitting out scratched vocals that are pretty much the definition of mainstream radio rock. The thing is, Morgan has always had an ear for catchy choruses, and indeed most Seether songs are easily memorable and singalongable even after just one or two listens. But the problem has always been in longevity, because none of their songs carry enough substance to keep you coming back week after week. Especially when you\'ve heard the exact same formula on four albums in a row now.

The only difference between their previous album \"Karma And Effect\" and \"Finding Beauty...\" is that scratched screaming has returned with more force than before. Where it was left to the sidelines on the last one or two albums, almost every song on here has a decent amount of screaming, designed to appeal to today\'s metalcore/screamo obsessed youth.

But although longevity is a serious problem for Seether on all their albums, the lyrics are a much bigger problem. Morgan\'s lines are consistently awful on each album, but he really has out done himself on songs like \"FMLYHM\" where he sings \"fuck me like you hate me\" about seven hundred times in the chorus. Or the pointless repetitions of \"You\'re No Jesus Christ\" on \"No Jesus Christ\". I mean Jesus Christ, do you need to repeat the title of a track five times per chorus in every single song on the album? The water\'s so shallow here you could expect it to evaporate any second.

In the end, Seether doesn\'t really offer anything new and shamelessly re-hash their success-formula from 2002 . The problem is, however, that it isn\'t 2002 anymore and the formula has grown very tired and cliché, because every popular hard rock band today sounds exactly like Seether. There\'s a reason why Nickelback\'s popularity plummeted, and Seether seem to be on the same certain path to self-destruction. \"Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces\" is good for two weeks of entertainment, after which you can safely bin it and be sure you won\'t ever remember even owning it. An utterly average album in all aspects except for lyrics, where it\'s just plain terrible.

5

Download: Like Suicide, FMLYHM, Breakdown
For the fans of: Nickelback, Smile Empty Soul, Default, Staind
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 23.10.2007
Wind-Up Records

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