The latest band to bail from the sinking nü-metal ship is Adema, whose new record, Unstable, foregoes down-tuned guitar clamor and pulverizing rhythms and focuses instead on melodic rock constructions and harmony-filled choruses.

"Some people want to say we sold out. Hell yeah, we want to sell out shows and sell lots of records," said frontman Marky Chavez, nabbing a line famously uttered by Gene Simmons of Kiss. "These songs are great and they're still heavy and we're so proud of them. They're 10,000 times better than the ones on our first record."

The first single from the Howard Benson-produced Unstable is the title track, which shudders with frustration and features churning guitars that grapple with sing-songy vocals and an undercurrent of gurgling computerized noises. The song is about trying to hang onto a relationship for all the wrong reasons.

"It's that kind of thing where you're like, 'God, I'm in love and why can't this work out the right way?' " Chavez said. "And then you try to leave, but you're going, 'Dang, the bedtime activities are great. I gotta stay around.' "

A video for the song was recently shot by Kevin Kerslake, who has worked with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and countless others, and features performance footage in an unusual context.

"They shot all these leaves at us and [drummer] Kris Kohls was picking leaves out of his teeth," Chavez said. "The concept of the video is the world is at its breaking point, and there's tornadoes and stuff flying around. We're flying in the video and there are people flipping out of the atmosphere. And we're playing through the whole thing. We wanted it to be like that and not be some stupid typical story of some girl and a guy having a fight."

While many of the songs on Unstable are washed with melody and Alice in Chains-style harmonies, the disc also features "Needles," the band's heaviest song both lyrically and musically.

"That song was inspired by a really hard time in my life," Chavez revealed. "I have a close family member who's really struggling with heroin addiction. I was so mad and angry and pissed off and I asked the band to play something that was dirty and heavy and fast, and had anger written all over it. When you're stuck to a needle, that sh-- calls your name constantly. It was real tough having to watch a family member destroy himself."

Unstable comes out August 19 (see [article id="1469924"]"Adema Stepping Away From Angst, Metal For Next LP"[/article]).