Disclaimer II

by

Seether

Edit

"Disclaimer II" is a bit shameful. It is obvious this re-release of Seether's 2002 debut was put out not only to cash in on the buzz surrounding the re-make/collaboration of "Broken" (featuring new vocals and string arrangements by Amy Lee of Evanescence & frontman Shaun Morgan's girlfriend) that has been floating around the airwaves all spring/summer, but also to fill in the space where the band should be releasing a second album (of which, there are still no plans officially in place). Nevertheless, their label, Wind-Up, has put together an awesome deluxe package for us all to eat up at a reasonable price. In addition to the eight non-album tracks tacked on, we are treated to a bonus DVD which is the host of all of Seether's music videos ("Gasoline," "Fine Again," "Driven Under," "Broken"), a short "Making-Of" featurette for the "Broken" video, and a 30-minute concert that plays out Seether's best material. The original album (on here, the first 12 songs) are also re-mixed by Bob Marlette (Saliva, Ill Nino) and have a few noticeable differences from the original mixes -- especially on "Driven Under," which benefits from some beefier guitar tones in the chorus. The b-sides are a nice addition. You'll remember a few of them from soundtracks: The heavier "Out Of My Way" and "Hang On" appeared on the "Freddy Vs. Jason" and "Daredevil" soundtracks, respectively. The uncut version of "Sold Me" (from "The Punisher" soundtrack) is a nice touch, and it's kinda of cool to compare the two versions of "Broken" on the same disc (a lot of fans are split down the middle, I think they're both great). The rest of the songs are either completely new or just re-workings of old demos from when the band went by the name of Saron Gas, the highlights of this series being "Love Her" and "Cigarettes." As for the original album, it's got a nice mix of slower songs ("Fine Again," "Broken"), anthems ("Sympathetic," "69 Tea") and grinding hard-rockers ("Needles," "Pig"). If you liked the original, you should pick up this package that basically expands on the experience (even if it may be just a cheap cash-in). Plus, I get the feeling it's still gonna be a while before we hear new material from these guys...

I hate when bands do this. I bought Disclaimer shortly after it came out a couple of years back, and found Seether to be one of the best new rock bands I had heard in a long time. Now, instead of putting together a brand new album, we get a rehashed version with bonus tracks that the purchasers of the original release need to shell out another sixteen bucks to hear. Note to record companies: this is why people download mp3s. If a band is going to do this, there should be a way for the owners of the original album to get the extra tracks from the band's website or something. This is simply a marketing ploy to get people to buy an album twice.