martindavey87 Adema’s 2001 self-titled debut was released at a time when nu metal was one of the biggest musical genres in the world. However, it was also short-lived, and with only minor mainstream success, the band was unable to make a big enough splash to help carry them through the subgenres demise. And so by 2003, musical trends have already shifted, and the Californian five-piece would get one final chance to either release an album that’ll see them transcend the dying fad, or forever remain one of “those bands” that were good “back in the day”.

And sadly, despite a marked improvement in writing and more confident performances, ‘Unstable’ just wasn’t good enough.

Displaying a nice mixture of heavy, groove-laden and energetic tracks, with some melodic, sentimental and emotional songs, ‘Unstable’ shows a band that has really improved and matured since their last outing. Vocalist Mark Chavez (who was originally only noteworthy for being half-brother of Korn main man Jonathan Davis) has proven himself a competent frontman, and while the instrumentation is fairly straightforward, the band have become adept at using multiple layers of simple melodies to accentuate a warmth in their sound.

But with that said, there’s still only a handful of notable tracks here. ‘Unstable’, ‘So Fortunate’, ‘Co-Dependent’ and ‘Promises’ are all pretty amazing to be honest, and definitely shows a band who certainly had the potential, but sadly never lived up to it. ‘Stand Up’, ‘Blame Me’ and ‘Let Go’ are also fairly decent, but nothing worth getting overly excited about.

Much like its predecessor, ‘Unstable’ does have some moments of absolute genius, but sadly most of it gets lost amongst an abundance of fairly average songs. It’s a good album, but in 2003, with nu metal on its last legs, “good” isn’t good enough, and while it’s certainly worth a listen or two, it’d ensure that Adema will forever be nothing more than another nu metal nostalgia band.

martindavey87 Adema's 2001 self-titled debut was a good album. Nothing amazingly special, but enough to warrant their small fan base during the heyday of nu metal. While they never achieved the mainstream heights of contemporaries such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, they were somewhat under the spotlight due to vocalist Mark Chavez being the half-brother of Korn frontman Jonathan Davis. But that was pretty much their biggest claim to fame.

While 'Adema' did have a couple of decent songs on it, and in fact, 'Freaking Out' is bloody brilliant, they followed it up a year later with 'Insomniac's Dream', a seven-track EP which heralded one single, and that was pretty much it.

The single in question, 'Immortal', is the only memorable track of the EP. Admittedly it's not bad, it's got some tasty riffs and Mark Chavez's vocals are certainly improving, but with that said, there's countless other things I'd rather listen to instead.

Then there's an Alice in Chains cover which is listenable but forgettable, a few remixes which do nothing for me (a remix of the aforementioned 'Freaking Out' is a huge letdown), a live song, and a radio edit of 'Giving In', probably the bands biggest hit. It's a good song... but do we really care about hearing a radio edit? No. We don't.

Overall, 'Insomniac's Dream' is an irrelevant EP. It's only strong point is 'Immortal', and even then, it's not really worth getting just for that. I would say it's only for the die-hard Adema fans, but I'm not entirely sure if any exist.

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.

Vim Fuego Music is a form of art, and should inspire some sort of a reaction. Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings still cause art lovers to go into rapture, more than five centuries after he created them. John Waters’ 1972 zero budget movie masterpiece, ‘Pink Flamingoes’, causes the same reaction for the opposite reason, adored the world over for being so bad it’s good. ‘Planets’, by Adema, never inspires anything more than indifference.

There is nothing adventurous on ‘Planets’ to set Adema apart from the pack of soundalike nu-metal imitators. There are no attempts at showing some musical virtuosity like System Of A Down or Mudvayne, no incorporation of eclectic influences like Static-X or Soulfly, no silly gimmicks like Slipknot or Coal Chamber, and there’s hardly even a hint of pop sensibilities like Linkin Park or Papa Roach. Adema seem to have found the formula, which they are euphemistically calling “modern rock”, and are sticking to it rigidly.

Even on a first airing, ‘Planets’ is predictable to the point where it’s mind numbingly obvious what’s coming next. From the song intro, to the harmonised vocals, to the staccato breakdown section, back to the vocals, sounding soulful and troubled this time, more staccato riffing, back to the chorus, then end. Repeat ad-fucking-nauseam. Sure, there’s a little variation between songs, but little is the operative word. There’s the odd acoustic passage, some grumbly bass, and some guitar effects here and there, but nothing strays far from the tried and true path.

Single “Tornado” breaks the mould somewhat with some great hook lines, and a more cheerful sound than most of the album, and would be perfect FM rock radio fodder as it is also the most sanitised song on the album. The title track has a lengthy building crescendo, but when it arrives, it’s like being hit with a six-inch high tsunami- all anticipation and no power. Little else even seems to lift recognisably above the horizon, as the album tails off to a flatline.

All four band members seem proficient enough, but the end result is like four session musicians in the studio with no guidance from a real artist. Their performances are all tradesman-like, quite capable at what they’re doing, but with no spark or inspiration.

It would be easy to do worse than Adema. Pick anything from Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber, Soulfly, Korn, or Limp Bizkit for evidence. However, it is also easy to do a lot better than ‘Planets’, and being least worst of a dull bunch is hardly something to be proud of.

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