Adelitas Way - Home School Valedictorian

[Glen]

Las Vegas' own Adelitas Way's sophomore release Home School Valedictorian defines and hones in on the quartet's sound. Front man Rick DeJesus explains "We set the bar so high on this record; we really tried to outdo ourselves". The 11-track album definitely achieves the type of "next level" sound the band strived for. Singles "Sick", "The Collapse" and "I Wanna Be" are loaded with heavy guitar riffs layered under the intense unrivaled sound of DeJesus' lead vocals

 

Here is a taste of the album....sounds to me like the band have stepped up the melody, and more promisingly there doesnt seem to be any fillers this time round, just great sounding modern rock tracks.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xaL5qDVGNA

[Glen]

Here are some alternative samples which give slightly different parts of the songs......

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=adelitas+way+-+home+school

[Geoff]

Definitely looking forward to hearing this one. Hopefully I get to hear some samples this afternoon.

[Chris]

I haven't heard the rest but "Sick" is just....well...sick!!

[hardrockhaven]

Just caught those samples. Very cool stuff. I like the debut too, but it sounds like they really beefed everything up, including the choruses, on this sophmore release. I'll definitely be picking it up.

[Glen]

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.

[Geoff]

I'm going to do the same thing you did, Glen, and post this in Mark's thread when I can find it:

 

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.

[TIM (2)]

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.

 

A tiny listen to the samples and this sounds pretty damn good to me, really like the vocals. Like Geoff I really liked the first-disc but it was far from flawless IMO. This sounds better, plus I don't give a toss about guitar solos anyway and kinda don't mind a bit of down-tuned guitar so this sound suits me just fine...

[JC_AOR]

Haven't heard any samples though I've just bought a copy on E-Bay anyway. I liked most of the last album and going off what others have said I'm sure I will like this one even more.

[Glen]

Listening to the debut and this album back to back I really dont think there is a whole lot of difference. Both albums are really strong.

 

I still love tracks 5-9 on the debut....just a great run of songs. & still think that 'My Derailment' is their best track.

 

I guess that if anything the sophomore is more consistent.

 

Great band....would love to see them play a few dates in the UK!

 

Cheers

 

'esteemed member'

[Geoff]

I forgot to chime in on this point too, but guitar solos are unimportant to me too.

 

If I could have the song with or without a solo I'd pick it with one every single time, but a song without a solo does not ever bother me in the slighest possible way.

[TIM (2)]

I forgot to chime in on this point too, but guitar solos are unimportant to me too.

 

If I could have the song with or without a solo I'd pick it with one every single time, but a song without a solo does not ever bother me in the slighest possible way.

 

Me too. A great solo enhances a song, but an average one (like most of them are) is a waste of time IMO. Sing the chorus again instead, or even better have a massive/heavy breakdown in the middle - granted this won't work so well with AOR!

[TIM (2)]

Btw: Seen a couple of really bad reviews of this one, compared to the debut. Is it definitely worth picking up?

[Glen]

Btw: Seen a couple of really bad reviews of this one, compared to the debut. Is it definitely worth picking up?

 

My comments stand. Repeated listens and i really cant tell a whole lot of difference between this and the debut. Very much just a continuation for me, except 2 or 3 of the tracks really do remind me of Daughtry - the more anthemic stuff from Daughtry that is.

 

'Move' is the only real filler for me.

[Geoff]

Not sure which reviews you've been reading, Tim, but I know a lot of the young review punks I see these days for modern releases get very homosexual as soon as a band tries to do something melodic / commercial. If it's some indie hardcore uncommercial music realist doing the reviews I wouldn't worry. Haven't been able to spin it many more times yet, but it sounded awesome for me.