Five gold and platinum albums and two dozen Billboard Rock Airplay Top 10 hits later, Seether is as vibrant and relevant as ever on their ninth studio record, The Surface Seems So Far. The follow-up to 2020’s “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” (which produced three No. 1 songs) finds the Shaun Morgan-fronted rock quartet flexing the creative chops. Written in pieces over an 18-month period, The Surface Seems So Far is unapologetically aggressive, kicking off with the barn-burning “Judas Mind.” This is a statement track from the band as they wanted to come out swinging with the first song they released after a few years off. “The album definitely leans heavier than some of the previous ones,” notes Morgan, who says he chose from roughly 21 songs with input from the rest of the band, which includes bassist Dale Stewart, drummer John Humphrey, and guitarist Corey Lowery and “Judas Mind” was at the top of everyone’s picks.
The band remains a mainstage staple at every major rock festival, with a touring history that includes treks with contemporaries like Breaking Benjamin, Avenged Sevenfold, Nickelback, Papa Roach, and more. A proverbial lighthouse in a sea of vacuous pop stars and soundalike bands, Seether stands for passion, authenticity, and genuine connection. Songs like “Words as Weapons,” “Broken,” “Nobody Praying for Me,” and “Fake It” are enduring rock anthems. Weathering the storms of changing trends and an evolving music industry, the group’s evocative songs and melodic hooks rise above the noise. The band’s legacy is set in stone.
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A proverbial lighthouse in a sea of vacuous pop stars and soundalike bands, Seether stands for passion, authenticity, and genuine connection. Songs like “Words as Weapons,” “Broken,” “Nobody Praying for Me,” and “Fake It” are enduring rock anthems. Weathering the storms of changing trends and an evolving music industry, the group’s evocative songs and melodic hooks rise above the noise. The band’s legacy is set in stone, with more than seven million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
Five gold and platinum albums and two dozen Billboard Rock Airplay Top 10 hits later, Seether is as vibrant and relevant as ever on their ninth studio record, The Surface Seems So Far. The band remains a mainstage staple at every major rock festival, with a touring history that includes treks with contemporaries like Breaking Benjamin, Avenged Sevenfold, Nickelback, Papa Roach, and more.
The follow-up to 2020’s Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (which produced three No. 1 songs) finds the Shaun Morgan-fronted rock quartet flexing the creative chops that have kept their Vicennial: 2 Decades of Seether collection on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart since it arrived in 2021.
The Surface Seems So Far is unapologetically aggressive, kicking off with the barn-burning “Judas Mind.” This isn’t to say the album doesn’t have moments of melancholy, like “Regret.” The record takes many twists and turns, emphasizing catchy hooks and driving bombast. Songs like the chunky but atmospheric “Illusion,” the pulsating “Lost All Control,” the dynamic neo-grunge of “Same Mistakes,” and the moving and immersive “Dead on the Vine” are massive additions to the Seether catalog. Seether sounds alternately confident and confessional, full of vitriol and vulnerability.
Singer/songwriter Morgan proudly draws from the hard rock and grunge that first inspired him as a teen in South Africa, with the unique sonic identity that propelled their gold-certified American debut.
Dale Stewart joined the band’s earliest incarnation less than a year after Morgan put it together. The duo’s Johannesburg-based indie record (under a different name) caught the attention of a more prominent indie label, who helped relocate them to America and released Disclaimer (2002).
John Humphrey came on board for the back-to-back platinum albums Disclaimer II (2004) and Karma and Effect (2005), as songs like the platinum “Broken” and gold “Remedy” earned accolades. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007), another platinum smash, produced two No. 1 singles, as well as the platinum “Fake It” and their gold-certified cover of Wham!’s “Careless Whisper.”
Following a tour with Nickelback, the band recorded and released Holding onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011), supported as a mainstage act on the 2011 Uproar tour with Avenged Sevenfold. The album bowed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, behind Adele, with 61,000 copies sold during its first week in the US, Seether’s biggest sales number since Karma and Effect debuted at No. 8 with 82,000 copies. “Country Song” was the most-played Active Rock radio song in 2011, according to Mediabase.
Loudwire called the gold-certified isolate and medicate (2014) “one of their finest albums.” “Words As Weapons” became their next platinum single, followed by “Same Damn Life” and the gold “Nobody Praying for Me.” Morgan took the producing reins himself with Poison the Parish (2017). Matt Hyde (Deftones, Slayer) engineered and mixed the album and its follow-up, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2020). The latter album introduced lead guitarist Lowery, who came on board with Seether in 2019. Morgan produced and Hyde engineered/mixed The Surface Seems So Far (2024).
Beyond the creative fulfillment of making albums, the most essential element of Seether remains the live performance. In an era filled with overt and covert fakery to reproduce the perfected sounds of albums, Seether takes pride in throwing down old-school. Morgan’s outlook on live performance makes for a succinct summary of Seether’s ethos, onstage and off: “If you’re not representing yourself authentically, I have no interest in it.”
LINEUP
- Shaun Morgan – Vocals/Guitar
- Dale Stewart – Bass
- John Humphrey – Drums
- Corey Lowery – Guitar
‘The Surface Seems So Far’ Track Listing:
Judas Mind
Illusion
Beneath the Veil
Semblance of Me
Walls Come Down
Try to Heal
Paint the World
Same Mistakes
Lost All Control
Dead on the Vine
Regret
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