Seether is a band that takes a lot of animosity. Since releasing Disclaimer in 2002, the band went on to do a remake of Disclaimer, simply titled Disclaimer II. It featured eight songs that the band had released on soundtracks or were older songs from their Saron Grass days. Seether has had a soft spot in my heart, not because they sound like Nicelback, but because of the thought and emotion that Shaun puts into his lyrics. This Disclaimer II CD is a pretty good one, considering you get 20 songs for about $13.99. Seether is now a trio, as they were before this band, they broke up because guitarist Pat Callahan didn’t want to play certain songs that Shaun had written, and if you are in the band, you should want to play anybody’s song, no matter who wrote it.
Seether for Disclaimer II:
Shaun Morgan: Vocals, Guitar
Patrick Callahan: Lead Guitar
Dale Stewart – Bass, Vocals
John Humphrey – Drums
There are some songs on this CD that are just brilliant, and there are some that are just bad. The sound of Seether is mostly mainstream, tending to sound like Nickelback. You can see TONS of Nirvana Influences, as Shaun sings almost identical to Kurt Cobain, and the guitar playing is similar. Seether shows some potential on Disclaimer II, giving us a variety of music to listen to.
Gasoline can give us that straight up, in your face, hard rock. It is about 2 minutes long and is one of the best songs on the CD. They use very simple guitar techniques, but it all adds to rocking out. If you love to rock out, this is one of the songs on the CD to choose. Also like this is the next song,
69 Tea. The lyrics can kind of hurt me, but the instrumentals are more of my thing, straight up hard rock. It is nothing spectacular, but it shows that the band can rock. The lyrics, though hurt me because I am Christian, and this is an anti-Christ song. I don’t like it as much as Gasoline, and I think Gasoline has better musicianship in the song.
There are more hard rock songs, including
Cigarettes, which features a solo, but an easy one, at that. It might want you to pick up the guitar an play along though. It is a very catchy song, and was one of the eight tracks they added for the making of this CD. On a similar note,
Sold Me was a song they got from "The Punisher" Soundtrack, and was another extra song, and done well.
On a more melodic note, there are some brilliantly done songs, like the first single
Fine Again. Everything about this song is done right, it is a very successful song, and has gotten the band some respect. The guitar lines are very independent, and the bass is audible. The message is also good. The other melodic song, is their second single,
Driven Under. These guys did an acoustic version of this on their live CD, and did a brilliant job with it. This version is still very good, but they should have made this song an acoustic song to begin with. The guitar line is very simple and easy to play, but I jam along with this song a lot. This is a better song on the CD to listen to.
Broken, the original song, is an all acoustic song, with just Shaun singing. It is much better than the one with Amy Lee, only because it keeps its originality in this song. The solo is much better acoustic as well.
We also have some decent songs on here, and when I say decent, I mean that they aren’t mind blowing singles, or good musicianship, but are just there, but you can still listen to them. These tracks include
Needles,
Got It Made, which is another extra track,
Hang On,
Sympathetic, which shows some similarity to Creed, and
Your Bore, which is one of the better ones on the CD.
Then we have the bad songs on here. These are the songs that will haunt this band, and I can’t stand any of them. These are
Broken feat/ Amy Lee from Evanescence, [b}F*** It[/b], and
Fade Away. "F*** It" shouldn’t have to be on the CD. It is just an excuse to use that type of language with out a point. The odd intro is the only thing that is interesting about this song.
Disclaimer II is a CD that has a mixed variety of songs, and most of them are pretty good, although the bad ones tend to stick out the most. I thought they did a good job of remixing the CD, and releasing eight new tracks along with it. Seether shows more progression into rock with their latest studio album "Karma and Effect". I give this a 3/5. It isn’t great, but not horrible.
Recommended Songs
Gasoline
Fine Again
Driven Under
Your Bore
Broken (the original, without Amy Lee)
Cigarettes
Got It Made