Seether

Seether haven’t had the easiest ride to nu-metal stardom. They’ve been plagued by label demands, a weak reissue and a ubiquitous duet with Evanescence’s Amy Lee. Their last album fared better than their first, but still, the group aren’t anywhere near as successful as Nickelback. That could change with One Cold Night, a live acoustic album that brings to mind Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York. Seether’s comparison to the iconic Seattle grunge trio is nothing new — singer Shaun Morgan sounds like a deeper voiced Kurt Cobain — but without the excessively heavy guitars the group almost sound straight out of the early ’90s. A stripped down Seether is much better than a plugged one — some of the songs, like "Gasoline” are pretty decent without the pretentious aggression — but just as an acoustic album can accentuate the positive, it also magnifies the negatives. These guys are way too earnest for their own good, and while that suits their electric sound, they sound pretty silly bearing their souls here. Despite the more inviting acoustic sound, this is still Seether, meaning One Cold Night should only be purchased by modern rock enthusiasts.