Adema - Unstable

I’m always wary of rock bands that feature super-serious band photos in the album sleeve, because no matter how many visible tattoos, frowning faces, and computer generated backgrounds you have, the anger-filled forty-minute album can’t possibly be concentrated into a single photo-shoot. I find it to be conceited and shallow, much like music videos featuring band members flying through computer generated blue-screened environments. (The new Adema video includes the band flying around with “tornadoes and stuff”) Regardless of the contemporary “we have lots of money to make crappy CG videos rock and roll” facade, Adema is a somewhat talented band. Unstable is a heavy rock-out album, smoothed over with radio-friendly melodies and a few sluggish pop-rock ballads. Adema has the same kind of leisurely rhythmic rock sound as Cold and Chevelle, gritty guitars, loud bass, screaming vocals, but still smooth. Adema is one of those bands sold through the modern MTV image, kinda cool sounding in that guilty pleasure way, but very immature. While I can appreciate the integrity and decent production, I can’t get past some of the High School quality lyrics, for example, “I tried to stop the cycle for you, this relationship is wack” and “What makes me break down like a bitch, it’s so hard to crawl out of this ditch.” Now, I don’t expect every band to be as lyrically clever as Wilco or Hum, though I do expect a band that is heavily inspired by real experiences (such as “Needles” which refer to a close friends struggle against heroin) to be a bit more cunning; save the lifeless, juvenile lyrics for Linkin Park. It’s especially frustrating to hear such immaturity on an album that you really want to tell your friends about. Despite consistenly sub-par lyrics, this album stands up really well as an MTV album. It sounds nice and feels nice, it's shallow as hell, and made for teenagers. I like it a lot for this reason, but can't give it a good score because it's not fair to the truly brilliant musicians out there. [www.ademaonline.com]