Review by: Joe Callaghan
My favourite recurring characters in Futurama are the Neutrals. All dressed in gray, completely emotionless with enigmatic, blank statements. Pretty much the first thing I thought of when I looked at, played and listened to Adult Situations. The disc is housed in a black glossy sleeve; plain black with S.O.S. branded in the centre in a white, bog-standard serif text. Inspirational. The back isn’t much different, with the track titles in the same but smaller typeface. I guess there’s a thin and often indistinguishable line between stripped down simplicity and just plain boring. This could fall either side, depending on your perspective. And that’s just the protective sleeve. Or is it? Pressing play didn’t really change my angle on this. It’s rock music. No frills or gimmicks, evidently. Just rock music. Rock music your Dad will probably like or that your Mum will do a patronising-faux head bang along to and ask when you’re going to cut your hair and listen to normal music. It grooves, in an almost nu-metal kind of way, but instead of chugging and pig-screaming, it keeps Helmet and Quicksand influences a little closer than, erm. I don’t know? Korn? Yes. Korn. They sound absolutely nothing like Korn. It rolls up its sleeves and gets sweaty. Maybe it even starts a fight and sleeps with your missis? Or starts a fire and steals a motorcycle? Believe it. Raucous, trouble making rock music. The local Rock Fashion outlet are fresh out of denim jackets to dismantle and sew your favourite Pantera patches onto, so getting shirtless will just have to do, as each of the twelve tracks oozes with grooving testosterone, motor oil, blood and battery acid. Each acts as an audio transcript of the sound of double decker buses being eaten by a half robot, half dinosaur during in an intergalactic space-war taking place on an asteroid being pulled into the centre of the Sun. Guttural, vicious rock music. Perilous, treacherous rock music. Nothing more than background music on a touring ‘Eat Your Motorbike’ road show. Gnarly.