This is a review of "Under Supervision" recorded by Darwin. The review was written by Richard Garnett in 2002.

Alright, alright I give in... now I am a believer in conspiracy theories! Which theory in particular? The one that Bradford has something in the water supply that causes young musicians from the city to form continuing numbers of average, stuck in the past ROCK bands... and I mean ROCK in the obvious, cheesy, straight, sunglass touting, big hair, pouting, sense. Why for Gods sake? I mean I've been to Bradford, I've been in the record shops there... they are not full of dusty copies of albums by Marillion, Rush or Bon Jovi - where is this coming from?

Answer me Darwin? Where are you buying your records or did you just step out of a time machine from 1985 where you had a radical rock sound! Darwin are a clean, straight rock band with well played and written songs - they're just stuck in a time warp and have that numbing MOR feeling you get from listening to Darren Hayes (ex Savage Garden) or Bon Jovi post "Slippery When Wet". I do not deny this has an audience as otherwise the McAlpine in Huddersfield would not have sold out last year for Bon Jovi's visit. It's just in the current music industry where I personally (and I suspect I am not alone) would like something new and inspiring this is like a big backwards step.

Highlights of the CD come in the form of the more edgy "On Air" and the breezy closer "More Than You Will Ever Know". But in general the whole experience suffers at the hands of some badly affected American accents on the vocal performance and obvious slush numbers like "She Sit's On The Stairs". This will have an audience and I will be called an ignorant fool (replace with your own expletives) in some circles but frighteningly I see no way for Darwin to evolve beyond this mediocre effort.