Spun: Seether

By Ryan Pike

Originally called Saron Gas, Seether rose to prominence in their native South Africa by bringing their alt-metal stylings to various small clubs and university venues. Eventually changing their name due to a request from their label, Seether crossed over to North America and made an impression with their second studio album, Disclaimer.

Now fairly entrenched, Seether’s latest album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, is a fair representation of their North American career to date. The band proves themselves to be capable musicians, proving so with the energetic single “Fake It,” but too often fall into the trap of formula. As a result, with a few exceptions, Negative Spaces quickly degenerates into a knee-deep pool of chords and awkward lyrics. It takes a special band to turn a song like “FMLYHM,” featuring a chorus imploring the listener to “fuck me like you hate me,” into something completely generic. Seether is that band.

Fans of Seether’s previous albums will find Negative Spaces more or less the same as the rest, although one could argue there’s a steeper drop-off between the good and bad songs on this album than on, say, Karma and Effect. Just like the chorus from opening track “Like Suicide” proclaims, Seether’s latest album is “the same old trip as before.”