Genre: Rock Year: 2004 Country: USA Official Site: Seemless Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Equal Vision Records
While nothing original in rock 'n' roll, Seemless' new self-titled album is pretty strong.
It's got a wide range of rock: the blues-tinged beat of "War/Peace," the Queens of the Stone-esque thundering guitars of "Something's Got to Give" and "The Crisis," and singer Jesse David's best Soundgarden-era Chris Cornell on "Lay My Burden Down." The players are also confident enough to riff and dance around in thick metal songs, like "In This Life," reminiscent of modern Tool.
David's voice is a breath of fresh air in the metal atmosphere, clearing out the smoke of toneless screeching and vocal noises. He can hold a note and scream in tune, a blessing for any band that's working in a musical genre whose volume can be off-putting. The lyrics, as with most heavy metal bands, are uniformly dark, with the occasional relationship darkness and political darkness.
Also nice is drummer Derek Kerswill's use of drums, cymbals and tambourines. A good drummer brings humanity to what are sometimes oppressively dark and guitar-driven songs. The use of drum machines in industrial and heavy metal, I think, is sometimes the straw that breaks the collective audience's back and pushes an otherwise good rock band into a niche category. (This rule has its exceptions … Linkin Park, anyone?)
If you dig Tool, Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden, give Seemless a try.
Seemless Seemless
