martindavey87 2001 was the year that nu metal had truly peaked, and as quickly as the subgenre took over the world, it faded away to become nothing more than a footnote in music history. During that brief time period, countless bands appeared out of nowhere to minimal fanfare, and after one or two minor hits they'd disappear back into obscurity, only to one day be looked back upon as nostalgia acts.

And no band better represents this than Adema.

Formed in 2000, and releasing their debut album in 2001, Adema were more of a record-label attempt to jump on the nu metal bandwagon than an actual, polished and seasoned band of musicians. Their major selling point at the time, of which the labels were no doubt trying to capitalize on, was the fact that vocalist Mark Chavez was half-brother of Korn's Jonathan Davis, one of metals most prominent figures around the turn of the century.

I remember buying Adema's self-titled debut when it was released, and other than the singles 'Giving In' and 'The Way You Like It', the album didn't really seem to have much to offer. So, looking back on it now, it's a pleasant surprise to see that, while a good portion of the record is definitely filler material, the band do still have a penchant for catchy hooks and a few memorable tracks.

The music itself is quintessential nu metal. Heavy, detuned guitar riffs with plenty of overlapping effects, short songs with simple structures, a lack of guitar solos and lyrics focussing on depression, angst, suicide, alienation and all the usual things we listened to in our youths when we sulked around wearing our baggy trousers and band hoodies. (I was never actually cool enough to wear baggy trousers, although in retrospect that probably wasn't a bad thing).

Other than the aforementioned singles, songs like 'Close Friends', 'Do What You Want to Do' and 'Everyone' are all fairly decent pieces. None of them are going to alter the musical landscape by any means, but they're certainly not as bad as most people would say they are. And then there's 'Freaking Out', which is admittedly, absolutely amazing, and is truly an underrated gem of the genre. It's upbeat riffs and rap-style vocals work really well, and anyone willing to give this band a chance today might be in for a surprise.

Adema were never fully established or polished enough to become heavyweights of nu metal, and like so many bands of the day, they were easy to dismiss. But listening to 'Adema' today serves as more than just a trip down memory lane, as it's actually a well-produced album with some competent songwriting, and shows a band who could, given time, go on to better things. It's just a shame that by the time the bands second album came along, the subgenre and most of its artists were already irrelevant.

arcane-beautiful Over my many years (19 to be precise), of listening, making, appreciating and studying music, I have come across some good music...and some not so good...some poor and some God awfully horrible. In fact some are so bad that I've decided to make a list of some of the blights of this music world. Now if you check out my reviews, the ones that I've rated with a 1 star are usually them (some people complain that I give really bad reviews one star instead of half a star, and to be honest when you see some reviews with only one star...your not really expecting much.) Some of these albums include Metallica's Death Magnetic, Creed's Full Circle, Queen + Paul Rogers' The Cosmic Rocks & Bleed From Within's Humanity. Now I really don't like giving bad reviews, but sometimes you just have to...and it's not my fault, it's the artists fault (I usually try and highlight as many positive points as possible.

The reason I bought this album was because it was a massive piece of nostalgia for me. Now I know it's kind of embarrassing, but I was brought up with nu metal. Now don't blame me, it was all I have.

Now these guys had a few songs out...and I liked them. They had catchy enough chorus, they had frequent play on music video channels, so you kind of either had to like it or not...and I did, although I was about 8.

Seeing this album, I kind of wanted to buy it as a joke, you know to see if they could be good enough for a full album. So I put it on, and with most bad albums, first track I went “meh could be worse”...but as it went on, it got worse.

I think the best way to describe this album is absolute filler. I mean it, not only are the songs bad, boring and repetitive...but even repetitive stuff should plant itself in your head. This is just totally forgetable.

Now I'm not saying it's all bad. The single The Way You Like It is still a decent enough song...but putting it in an album context, it still feels really bland, and not really adding anything to it.

Maybe this album is the only bad one. Maybe their other releases aren't too bad. Maybe in the future I will try and get my hand on another one of their albums, but after remembering this album, it's not something that I really want to jump upon right in this moment in time.

CONCLUSION: There are worse albums out their probably, but that phrase still doesn’t make this album any better. This isn't the worst band in the world, but I warn you to stay away from this album...unless your looking for a laugh...then this is perfect for you.

0.5/10