In the past two years, my thoughts on ADELITAS WAY based upon their first album have proven true. They’re still a staple of third-market rock radio, but not necessarily mainstream just yet. When we last left the apostrophe-hating band, I was hoping that they’d be able to tone down the pop in favor of the rock, and with the release of HOME SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN (out this week on Virgin Records), it’s time to see what the Las Vegas band has delivered in their latest assignment.
They’ve certainly amped up the rock as requested, but there’s something eerily familiar about much of it’s contents. They might be the “Valedictorian” of their “home school,” but a lot of this album feels like someone was copying notes from the more established students at the school of rock. The guitars are heavier, with some solid grooves – that sound borrowed from the likes of Drowning Pool, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, and a dozen other bands. Sick and Cage the Beast never live up to their full potential.
There’s something telling by having Tyler Connolly from Theory of a Deadman show up on I Wanna Be, as you could add “in (insert band name here)” at the end of that title. The fact that it follows the Tantric-esque Somebody Wishes They Were You, is even creepier.
In the end, we have a second album with a rating exactly the same as the first: dead-average.
Rating: 2.5/5
