Seether - POISON THE PAR(LP/EX Vinyl Record

One of the most enduring acts to come out of the post-grunge boom of the early 2000s, South Africa's Seether have managed to remain true to their Nirvana/Soundgarden-loving roots while maintaining just enough forward-thinking momentum to stay relevant. Poison the Parish is the band's seventh studio long-player, and their first to be issued via frontman Shaun Morgan's label imprint Canine Riot Records -- he also handles all of the production duties. A much beefier affair than 2014's perfectly meaty but slick corporate Isolate and Medicate, the 12-track set -- there is also a deluxe edition that adds three more cuts -- is by far the group's heaviest outing to date, but Seether have always leaned harder on the alt-rock side of the post-grunge spectrum, so as per usual, all of that might is tempered by hooks aplenty. Opener "Stoke the Fire" does just what its title implies, delivering slow burn grooves and a circuitous lead melody that falls somewhere between Alice in Chains and Load-era Metallica. Follow-up "Betray and Degrade" fares even better on the earworm front, as does the stripped-down lead single "Let You Down," but things start to bleed together as the LP reaches its mid-section, with competent, yet largely forgettable midtempo offerings like "Against the Wall" and "Let Me Heal" hitting the breaks on what was initially a pretty wild ride. Luckily, things pick up again with the punishing "Nothing Left" and the unabashedly Nevermind-esque "Count Me Out" -- the brooding, acoustic-led closer "Sell My Soul" gets by on mood alone. Poison the Parish doesn't deviate too far from the structural blueprints of prior outings, but it's hardly the work of a band just going through the motions. By attaining autonomy, Seether seems to have rediscovered their vitality. ~ James Christopher Monger

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop