Adelitas Way: "Home School Valedictorian" review

[metalmaniac777]

My review of Adelitas Way's sophomore album, "Home School Valedictorian," is now available over at Hardrock Haven. Click the link below to check it out:

 

Adelitas Way review

 

Another darn good entry in the modern hard rock stakes.

[Glen]

Nice review mate and by and large I completely agree with your summation, esp in that the flow of the album is excellent and you dont get drawn into a boring flow of samey sounding songs which normally leaves you struggling to remember a hook.

 

I must admit though that after hearing the samples I was hopeful of 2 things that they would have improved on over the debut -

 

1. That they would have ramped up the melody

2. More guitar solos

 

1. was kind of achieved, 2. unfortunately was not which was kind of disappointing.

 

In terms of point 1 there's no doubt that there are some great melodic choruses on here like 'Alive', 'Good Enough', 'Somebody wishes', 'Hurt' etc which sound like they could have been lifted from the last Daughtry album - no bad thing. But there were one of 2 dangerous lapses towards a more NU-metal sound as well.

 

Overall a really good effort. Better than the debut? Difficult to say at this point, but definitely looking forward to more listens.

[metalmaniac777]

Thanks, Glen. I do agree that there is a lack of guitar solos, which is kind of unfortunate, 'cause on the rare occasion the guitarist is allowed to rip for a few seconds, it sounds like he's got the skills to deliver some scorchers. That said, while guitar solos are always appreciated, they are not mandatory for my listening enjoyment, so their absence doesn't faze me too much. Interesting that you pointed out the Daughtry comparison...in my original notes for the review I jotted down that comparison, but ended up jettisoning that part of my review due to word count restraints. But yeah, on some of the songs, you can definitely hear some Daughtry, which ain't a bad thing.

 

For me, this is better than the debut, but only by a slim margin, and the bottom line is, anyone who enjoyed the debut should enjoy this new offering as well. It's not the best modern hard rock albun of the year--I think Black Stone Cherry, Egypt Central, and Stealing Eden all edge this out--but it's definitely a keeper if you're a fan of the genre.

[Glen]

Thanks, Glen. I do agree that there is a lack of guitar solos, which is kind of unfortunate, 'cause on the rare occasion the guitarist is allowed to rip for a few seconds, it sounds like he's got the skills to deliver some scorchers. That said, while guitar solos are always appreciated, they are not mandatory for my listening enjoyment, so their absence doesn't faze me too much. Interesting that you pointed out the Daughtry comparison...in my original notes for the review I jotted down that comparison, but ended up jettisoning that part of my review due to word count restraints. But yeah, on some of the songs, you can definitely hear some Daughtry, which ain't a bad thing.

 

For me, this is better than the debut, but only by a slim margin, and the bottom line is, anyone who enjoyed the debut should enjoy this new offering as well. It's not the best modern hard rock albun of the year--I think Black Stone Cherry, Egypt Central, and Stealing Eden all edge this out--but it's definitely a keeper if you're a fan of the genre.

 

Mmm not heard the Egypt Central - may have to check that one out. Cheers

[Geoff]

Nice review, Mark.

 

Before I cut and paste what I said in another thread, I have to admit that I instantly prefer this to Black Stone Cherry and Egypt Central. Both good CDs, but I wasn't sold by Egypt Central yet and the BSC is good but not anything too special. Adelitas Way, Stealing Eden and Trust Company would probably be my top 3 contenders at the moment.

 

Anyway, here's what I said in the other thread:

 

Plain and simply, I f*cking love this. I'll say it right off the bat, that I prefer this to the debut. I thought the debut was a very good album. But in all honesty, after one of our, uh... *clears throatGlen* esteemed members hyped it up so much I have to admit it didn't quite reach the mark for me. However, this one, which kind of snuck up on me a little quicker than I expected, without much hype or song and dance... well, it has really impressed me.

 

Like Chris said above, everything appears to be beefed up and every change sounds for the better. It's more aggressive, heavier and more melodic. What can you not love about it?

 

The opener, 'Collapse,' immediately shows you where they're at, being heavier than anything off the debut. And the album flows magnificently, with only one tiny hiccup. The mix of heavy rockers and ballads / mid tempo tunes is done well, until they throw in the ballad 'Somebody wishes they were you' - which is easily the albums weakest song - after another ballad, 'I can tell.' Now, 'I can tell' is brilliant and one of my faves on the CD, but the two ballads in a row is a mistake, imo.

 

But that is literally the only negative I can think of. The rest of the album is excellent. I'm a sucker for the super commercial 'Alive,' 'Good enough,' and 'I can tell,' which are all three ballads, but they really sound awesome on the heavier tracks, which are one and all excellent.

 

Overall, excellent follow-up to the debut and this will rate highly for me this year. Should be in the top 5 modern without a hassle.