Having once sung his way through the history of rock as an *American Idol* standout and subsequently spent a decade making the Freddie Mercury repertoire his own as the frontman of Queen, Adam Lambert can certainly be forgiven for drawing inspiration on his fifth solo album from the music that shaped his youth in the 1990s. For Lambert, that meant not only the albums of queer icons like Björk, Prince, and George Michael, but also the darker sounds of industrial and trip-hop acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Massive Attack. Accordingly, things get rather aggressive on "Eat U Alive"—the lead single from his new album, simply titled *Adam*—as the thunderous chorus threatens a wayward lover: "Swallow you up when you come to say goodbye." Now that he runs his own label, Lambert is free to toy with such cannibalistic fantasies without fear of vetoes. Yet, he is more convincing as an interpreter of subtler desire—as demonstrated by his rendition of Noël Coward’s ballad "Mad About The Boy," which closes out his previous album, *High Drama*.