Out Now
Words by Kris Peters
Seether have always been one of those bands for me that when I hear one of their global hits – such as Broken (feat. Amy Lee), Fake It, and Remedy – I find myself irresistably drawn to their music, but then once it’s finished I move on to the next bout of entertainment pretty quickly.
Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s more just the way I find myself digesting music. I have my go-to bands that always seem to make the cut when choosing a playlist, but there are often times where I promise to make a concerted effort to step outside of my comfort zone and allow myself to be swept off into less familiar sonic territories.
So it is that I find myself sitting down to listen to Seether‘s new digital EP Beneath The Surface. I know that through past experiences I have enjoyed listening to this band so maybe this is my first step towards rehabilitation and expanding my core scope of music. Besides, Beneath The Surface is only a short foray into the unknown, with a total of just four songs including two previously unreleased studio tracks and two live recordings that promise to showcase yet another side of Seether‘s musical psyche.
Opener Into The Ground has a bit of a shuffling energy to start things off before frontman Shaun Morgan eases into the fold amid a wash of snare and high hats which seem to be the cause of the previously mentioned shuffling effect.
While on the surface this appears to be a casual, almost by the numbers slab of grunge infused rock there’s actually quite a bit going on. It’s hardly noticable as Into The Ground levels off momentarily before returning with renewed venom, all the while drummer John Humphrey continues to slap at his kit in a futile attempt to keep the status quo.
And here lies the strength of Seether. They have always been a band who plod along with minimal fuss but if you take the time to peel back the sonic layers and expose their coarse underbelly there lies the beating heart of a frustrated hard rock outfit who are forced somewhat by the almost soothing nature of Morgan‘s vocals into a neutral corner where they are loved for their musical niceties maybe a little too much to allow the dark to conquer the light.
Or maybe it’s just me… Fuck knows but that was a great track.
Proud Daddy pitches you straight into a world where Kurt Cobain was mesmerizing the masses courtesy of his mournful tales of whimsical woe. It’s a swift descent into the world of depressive states of mind, but that only lasts long enough to create a fleeting moment of hopelessness before a steady caressing of the kick drum almost acts as a beacon of light that drags you out of the quagmire and into an unsettling track that repeatedly falls back onto the phrase of “your Daddy must be proud.”
Which should come as no surprise seeing that’s the name of the song but it still makes for an unsettling sonic atmosphere that is given more impetus by a looping guitar riff that serves its purpose of making it seem like you are trapped in a recurring nightmare of truth. Again, there’s a plethora of layers at play here musically, with the band often seeming at odds with the direction of their singer but somehow it all folds back together by the time Proud Daddy comes to an eerie conclusion.
The first of the live tracks is next with Lost All Control and by the sounds of the opening notes this is more of an acoustic live rendition rather than an all out rock assault. A chunky bass run carries us through the getting to know you phase of Lost All Control before the action ramps up and a momentary bout of aggression sweeps over the song before a tasty guitar run – but not quite a solo – steps in to act as a peacemaker of sorts as calm is seemingly restored.
It’s no surprise to find out it, in fact, hasn’t, as Seether veer off into waves of musical disparity that fluctuate from the calm and serene to borderline schizophrenic and then to harmonious beauty with a minimum off fuss. But it seems that keeping control isn’t high on Seether‘s agenda because the underlying sense of pent up aggression is mostly struggling to remain in it’s place as the intensity hastens with promising intent more and more as Lost All Control draws to a close.
That’s three for three so far, and with one more live song to go I am quietly confident I am about to listen to a complete body of work from a band I am increasingly coming to realise is every bit as good as the many I have placed above them over the years.
Judas Mind starts with the now familiar high hat treatment from Humphrey as a reverb fuelled elongated passage of guitar play to have a positive effect on the rest of the band as Seether actually start this song with a sense of menace rather than work their way up to that point over the journey of their music. Morgan can sing like a demon when he wants, but judging from these four songs as a grounding base he manages to fight those demons off more often than not in favour of his naturally infectious rock persona that could part the seven seas all on their own.
The elements of grunge remain strong in Judas Mind, but Seether have somehow found a way to infuse the less desirable elements of the grunge area with enough hard rock DNA to produce what many would consider a bastard son of the downtrodden but in actual fact is a highly infectious and strangely alluring amalgamation of everything that is good about the varying degrees of rock music, without the trappings of over emotional vulnerability.
I might just have to step outside of my comfort zone with greater regularity…
