Metal Underground.com

Since the release of their 2002 debut album, Disclaimer, South Africa’s Seether has gained more popularity (partly due to their collaboration with Evanescence frontwoman, Amy Lee, on “Broken”) and has gone through a number of line-up changes. Seether’s latest release, Karma and Effect, now features a new drummer, John Humphrey, and the addition of a second guitarist, Pat Callahan, who gives the music a fuller sound.

In comparison to Disclaimer, Karma and Effect is darker, rawer and more mature. The band also seems to have dropped the swearing on the new album. Karma and Effect opens with the fast and aggressive “Because of Me” and moves on to the first single off the album, the angst-filled “Remedy.” There are similarities in the torment and anger in the vocals of frontman Shaun Morgan and that of Kurt Cobain. The band pays homage to Ozzy Osbourne by naming the fifth track “Burrito” after watching an episode of the Osbournes in which Ozzy apparently kept talking about burritos. The song has nothing to do with burritos but is heavy enough for an Ozzy tribute. Although the heavy songs off the new album are more aggressive than most of the tracks on Disclaimer, Karma and Effect also features a few slower songs, such as “Plastic Man” and “The Gift.” There is a 5-minute silence at the end of “Plastic Man,” before it moves on to the bonus track, which is probably the most whacked out thing I have ever heard. Words can’t describe how weird it is. It does not fit in with the rest of the album, which may be why it is just a bonus song.