Out Now
Craft Recordings
Words by Matt Gabites
Seether can lay claim to being South Africa’s biggest ever rock band. Closely followed by….um answers on a postcard please. But that shouldn’t take anything away from a band that has amassed over 4.5 million album sales, 7 million singles and a shade over 5.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
Fair to say then that they have earned the right to bring out Vicennial- 2 Decades of Seether when bands with less impressive numbers and even less impressed accountants have released a ‘best of’ and kept a straight face doing so.
Mega hit Fake It is the first of the twenty songs available here and immediately provides anyone who may be new to Seether a 3 minute snapshot of what these guys are all about. Hard rock in the same vein as, whisper it, Nickelback.
Remedy showcases the bands love of Kurt Cobain before Fine Again presents itself as a song that Alice in Chains would have had a great time with during their MTV Unplugged performance.
A reworking of one of their earlier songs, Broken, featuring singer/guitarist Shaun Morgan’s ex Amy Lee on vocals, avoids the cringe factor that such collaborations normally provide by just being a bloody good ballad.
Elsewhere Country Song is something that Chad Kroeger would be driven to write if Avril Lavigne wore a Kid Rock t-shirt for more than 3 days straight.
Let You Down inhabits, in a good way, the same world that any of Maynard Keenan’s bands have at one time or another.
Unfortunately, Careless Whisper is not about Shane Warne’s infamous “Can’t bowl, can’t throw” controversy but it is a cover from the world’s most famous public toilet loiterer. R.I.P George.
Betray And Degrade maintains the catchy grunge vibe that has been so successful for Seether while at the same time providing some truly heavy moments.
And if Eddie Vedder ever got it in his head to write a sequel to Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got a Gun then Driven Under would be that song.
So after 77 minutes in the company of South Africa’s biggest export since um.. answers on a postcard please, the question becomes. Will you be adding to
A- Their record sales?
B- Monthly streaming numbers?
Or
C- None of the above?
Judging by what’s on offer here C should not even be an option.
