Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Love him or hate him, Seal has a lot of talent. His spiritual dance-techno-pop fusion has won him multiple Grammys, he is an international icon and he is constantly on music charts on both sides of the Atlantic. System, Seal's fifth studio album, comes close to the success of his previous albums but ultimately falls short due to the curse of dance-techno music: Similar and repetitive songs.

Although Seal tends to put out great singles - "Kiss from a Rose," "Don't Cry" - the rest of the content on his albums tend to be subpar. Such is the case with System. Though some songs break out of the monotonous mold - such as "If It's In My Mind, It's On My Face," "Loaded" and "Wedding Day," which features Seal in a duet with his wife, supermodel Heidi Klum - only Seal's voice carries the album. The synth-based music does not.

System's songs have great production value thanks to producer Stuart Price, who helped reboot and rejuvenate Madonna's music career back in 2005 with Confessions on a Dance Floor. But despite Price's help, Seal has trouble maintaining the rhythm with tracks such as "Just Like Before," "Rolling" and "Immaculate," which act more like background music than anything else.

Hence the problem with playing it safe: Historically, Seal has made music that sounds similar because he knows what works for him. But with System, Seal falls short of creating a great dance album. If he wants his album to be as "Amazing" as his single would suggest, it will take more than just echo effects to elevate Seal's status to something of legend.

diversions@dbk.umd.edu

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

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