Isolate and Medicate
The good old Seether are back, alive and kicking (ass)
Isolate and Medicate (I&M) is the album Seether were craving for after their soulless previous work, Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray [2011]. Finally, after listening carefully to I&M, I get the distinct feeling I have been looking for from Seether since Karma and Effect [2005]: the feeling the good old Seether are finally back, alive and kicking (ass).
Personally, I believe Karma and Effect is their best album… and probably ONE OF THE MOST COMPLETE ALBUMS EVER PRODUCED IN MUSIC INDUSTRY. I mean, it was almost perfect… but since then Morgan’s band has been struggling to get back on track. Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces [2007] slipped through the cracks and (un)expectedly became the band’s best-selling record. Sadly, the post-grunge/dark pop style lacked the soul Seether had been presenting over the years… which they didn’t find on their next work, Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray. It was actually just ‘another stone to seal their fate’ (remember the lyrics of Tongue from Karma and Effect?). If they have followed this trail for just another album, we would soon witness their complete transformation into a Buckcherryesque pop act. Fortunately, Seether have postponed that transformation (for now) and seem to be crawling back to a point somewhere between their best album… and their best-selling album. Their lyrics are way stronger and their music is way heavier than in their previous two works.
Sadly, you can’t feel it in any of the released singles… and Words As Weapons and Suffer It All reflect it spot-on. The first and third singles remain on the same line of the previous album, the very same album Seether should try to get over. Especially, when they manage to write such a powerful lyrics that, ultimately, end up encapsulated in a sad and pop tune. The second single, Same Damn Life, is probably the most accessible track of the album resembling older tracks (such as ‘Fake It’) and the catchy style adopted in Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces. A moody and sugar-coated track tending towards pop, but still within the border, that uses a light tune to mask their perspective of the inevitable and sad weight of time. Unfortunately, Seether have skidded further from the singles. Crash and Watch Me Drown, especially, are pop, uninteresting and, most of all, meaningless tracks. In an album where the lyrics are probably the strongest element of every and (almost) single track, the lack of soul and direction revealed hit me even harder. Luckily, once you get over it, you will find yourself immersed in tracks that will, undoubtedly, figure in their next Best of.
Their lyrics are way stronger and their music is way heavier
Starting with the first track of the album, See You At The Bottom, which, ironically, should had been the first single. It is, alongside with Nobody Praying For Me and Keep The Dogs At Bay, one of the best tracks of the record: lyrically strong, angry and contagious… a little like Nobody Praying For Me, a light and sad track with powerful (and almost poetic) lyrics, and Keep The Dogs At Bay, a desperate, heavy and rich track. Precisely the direction Seether keep throughout the album, although with ups and downs, up to the pièce de résistance: Weak, another great track, first released in their 2002–2013 (best of) album.
Isolate and Medicate seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel. Lyrical and (mostly) heavy, I&M jumps straight to their top 3 as one of their best albums… but don’t get me wrong. It is a clever album where Seether risk almost nothing presenting a wide range of styles that can easily meet the taste of a wide range of fans. It can actually be a good album to re-discover Seether but it’s far from the heavy post-grunge style the ‘older’ fans love. The exploratory character of the album is regrettable from a band that just 10 years ago knew exactly where they were heading… but is admirable from a band that lost their course somewhere in the past and is fighting to find their way back. Seether could have carried on the easy way but chose to crawl back to a slightly harder alternative rock style (as far from grunge as from pop). Good move. 3 out of 5 stars. MRR
TRACKS TO LISTEN INCREDIBLY LOUD See You At The Bottom, Nobody Praying For Me, Keep The Dogs At Bay
TRACKS TO FORGET Crash, Watch Me Drown, Burn The World
