:: Seether - Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces

Seether

The last couple of years have been a mix of incredible highs and terrible lows for South African heavy rock act Seether. On the positive side, the band has managed to reproduce the platinum success of their 2004 effort ‘Disclaimer II’ with their follow up release ‘Karma And Effect’. And although 2006’s live acoustic effort ‘One Cold Night’ didn’t quite reach the heady heights of their previous albums, it certainly earned the band some credibility from unconvinced critics of the past for the band’s ability to reproduce their hits in the acoustic forum. But there have also been some lows for the band too. First there was the departure of guitarist Pat Callahan. Then there was vocalist/guitarist Shaun Morgan much publicised stint at rehab, followed by the public revelation that Evanescence’s hit ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’ was actually based about lead vocalist Amy Lee’s relationship with Morgan. But despite the hardships of the last couple of years, Seether have bounced back with their latest studio effort ‘Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces’. But for all of Morgan’s claims about their latest effort being their most diverse effort to date, ‘Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces’ sees Seether sticking primarily within their comfort zone, with only a few exceptions to the case.

The album starts off in a strong manner with ‘Like Suicide’. The harder edge is certainly a return to Seether’s aggression of old, while the overall structure of the song itself is a little more imaginative from what you would normally expect from the group. Although somewhat more predictable sounding, ‘Eyes Of The Devil’, ‘Fallen’, ‘Six Gun Quota’ and ‘Breakdown’ manage to keep the album hard and heavy, while the epic centrepiece ‘No Jesus Christ’ actually goes into waters previously uncharted for the band. Brooding, progressive in places and intense throughout, Seether definitely captured a moment with this track, and produced what is possibly one of their finest moments. Unfortunately, the rest of the album fails to muster the same amount of excitement. Seether seems content to offer up a mix of pedestrian arena anthems (‘Don’t Believe’ and ‘Waste’), lightweight catchy rockers (the first single ‘Fake It’, ‘Rise Above This’ and ‘Walk Away From The Sun’), right through to the truly embarrassing (‘FMLYHM’ - an acronym for ‘F**k Me Like You Hate Me’).

Seether knows exactly want their fans want, and you can’t blame them for delivering it once again. But what’s really disappointing is that when they do think outside the box (like they did with ‘No Jesus Christ’), Seether can definitely come up with some interesting songs. All up, if you’re a Seether fan, you’ll find this album every bit as catchy, heavy and strong as their previous efforts. Unfortunately, others will struggle to find much beauty amongst this darkened negative piece of plastic.