Seether - Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (“If you want peace, prepare for war”) is the eighth album from Seether. Originally from Pretoria, South Africa but now based in the States, Seether have racked up over 7 million album sales globally, with four platinum certified albums.
This album is intense and heavy yet melodic. The playing is impressive and Shaun Morgan’s vocals are impassioned and pained – the scream on Wasteland being particularly heart-rending. Musically, it revisits that point in the early to mid-90s when underground bands were merging the grunge of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden with the thrash metal of Metallica and Megadeth.
There is an anthemic intent at work here and yet the songs are strangely forgettable. Over the last four weeks or so I have listened to this album pretty much every day and racked up dozens of plays and yet none of the songs has really stuck in my head. Every time I play it, it is like I have never heard it before. So, as strong as it is in many ways and much as I admire much of what Seether are doing, this is not really for me. I bet they’d destroy at Download festival tho’!
