Texas hard rockers Adakain aim for an unconventional sound, and on ‘Never Coming Home’ achieve precisely that. Sometimes it works really well, at others it misses the mark.

Their sound is one of heavy rocking guitars and catchy choruses with an occasional demonic screech complimenting the otherwise radio-friendly melodies. ‘All Goes to Hell’ and ‘Don’t Try’ are prime examples, while ‘Hate Sex’ is infuriatingly catchy, and would easily fit on a Warrant/Winger/White Lion album.

The power balladic title track continues the eighties vibe, but its heavy and fresh-sounding with its post-hardcore midsection, while the single ‘Hey Girl’ shows off Ryan Ray’s vocal talents.

They border on the cliché here and there though, ‘Resistance’, ‘We Crawl’ and the metal by numbers of ‘Don’t Look Down’ being particularly guilty. Nevertheless, the overall result is quite pleasant, especially on the aggressive ‘Fight Back’ (banging solo here) and epic ballad ‘We All Bleed Red’.

There are moments when everything comes together nicely, but now and again they don’t seem to know if they want to be Pantera or Nickelback, but I guess that’s the point!

3/5

‘Never Coming Home’ by Adakain is out now on Adakain Records.

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Words by Edward Layland (@EdwardLayland)