Why Bother?

At the best of times, Adult are an abrasive bunch, but on this album they take the art of venting one’s spleen to new levels. There are remnants of purist electro on ‘Red Herring’, but this arrangement, which feature Nicola Kuperus’s vocals sounding spacey and almost innocent, isn’t indicative of the prevailing, malevolent mood. At times, Why Bother? is an unlistenable racket, but the nauseatingly dark bursts of guitar, buzzsaw punk workouts and aggressive taunts like ‘Herd Me’, as well as Nicola’s death rattle screeches, make it just about palatable.