ADAGE are a radio friendly 4 piece from North Carolina, United States. Their five track EP, "Defined", is essentially a further addition to the already over saturated pool of Modern Rock. The fact that it fits in to this tag so seamlessly is, unfortunately, more a negative than anything else. But before you worry that this is about to become a mad, incoherent rant, I will first say that this is not a bad record. It's just a bit "meh". Let me tell you why...

Opener "Anymore" is genuinely a really good track, a glorious five minutes of pummelling Hard Rock in a style I found (in parts) similar to ADRENALINE MOB, it's the perfect album opener, and displays the band at their absolute best. The other great song is "Hold On", creeping the line between anthem and ballad, but still retaining moments of power, the real highlight across the whole album is Alex Hough's drumming, which is perfectly measured to each song's vibe, and avoids merely providing the beat, but actually adds brilliantly to tracks such as "Best Of" and "Anymore".

However after "Hold On" you listen to "Growing Colder" and "By Myself", and you begin to notice a pattern developing. I completely get that in the general sphere of radio friendly Rock music that songs are invariably about some form of emotional scenario but the "emotionally charged" heartfelt song was overdone by the boybands of the 90's, and frankly really needs to be scrapped. Apart from "By Myself", which has an air of sincerity about it, the others just sound like they could be written by any bloke and his dog.

Ok, maybe I'm being facetious, obviously songs on this topic can really resonate with listeners, and I'm sure these lyrics are important on a personal level for the band, but on a five track record do you need three tracks to whinge along to. It's been done. Is the entire planet getting their hearts broken at a terrifying rate? No.

Sadly, it really does take away from what, musically, is a very promising album, as previously mentioned, the drumming is superb and especially on tracks like "Anymore" and "Hold On" (in the heavier sections) the band do sound great. Luke Petree's guitar solo in "Best Of" is particularly good. They're following a blueprint that has already taken other bands a long way, and ADAGE have definitely shown enough quality to suggest that they could follow on.