''Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'' (; English: "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War") is the eighth studio album by South African

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Seether Seether are a South African Rock music, rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with ...

. It was released on 28 August 2020 through

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

and was produced by lead vocalist

Shaun Morgan Shaun Morgan Welgemoed (, born 21 December 1978) is a South African musician. He is the lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Seether. Early life Morgan spent most of his early life in South Africa.Bottomley, CSeeth ...

. The album's first single, " Dangerous", was released ahead of the album in June 2020, as well as " Bruised and Bloodied" in July and "Beg" in August. A deluxe edition was released on 1 July 2022.

Background and promotion

In June 2019, John Humphrey revealed that recording had commenced for their upcoming eighth studio album, with frontman

creating demos and sharing them with band members. On 24 June 2020, the band announced the album itself set for release on 28 August 2020 through

. They also released the first single of the album, " Dangerous". Translating to "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War", the album features 13 new tracks, and was produced by Morgan himself in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

from December 2019 to January 2020. On 17 July, the band released the second single, "Bruised and Bloodied". On 14 August, two weeks before the album release, the band released a third song "Beg".

Composition and themes

Morgan explained that the album's sound was influenced by late 1990s

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, specifically

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American Rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool (band), Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their ...

and

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

, which he had been listening to heavily in recent years. The album combines the

guitar riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

s commonly found in 1990s rock with the atmospheric sounds found in A Perfect Circle's music. Morgan also aimed to move away from the standard "verse-pre-chorus-chorus" song structure commonly found in mainstream music.

Track listing

Notes * Tracks 14 to 17 are originally from ''Wasteland – The Purgatory EP''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

and the album's liner notes. Seether *

– lead vocals, guitar, production * Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals *

Corey Lowery Corey French Lowery is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and engineer. He is the guitarist and backing vocalist for South African rock band Seether, and a former member of Saint Asonia, Stuck Mojo, Stereomud, Eye Empire, and Dark ...

– guitar, backing vocals, engineering * John Humphrey – drums Additional personnel *

Matt Hyde Matt Hyde (born June 19, 1964) is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. He has been credited as engineer, producer, mixer and/or mastering engineer on notable albums such as No Doubt's '' Tragic Kingdom'', Monster Magnet's '' Powert ...

– engineering, mixing *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...

– mastering * Matt Marshall – A&R * Shawn Coss – artwork * Florian Mihr – package design

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Fantasy Records albums Seether albums