Sound: Adelita's Way are a hard-rock group who struck it big with their self-titled debut album, with the hit single "Invincible" being used for WWE events and other sport soundtracks. Now, they're back with their 2nd album "home School Valedictorian". I'll admit, I kind of liked the single Sick, which is why I bought this album. Once I listened to it, I realized that I had made a mistake. If you've heard Adelita's Way first album, you have heard the second one already. Nothing has changed on this "Home School Valedictorian". It really feels like the band didn't even try on this one. There's not an inkling of improvements on "HSV". The sound is incredibly generic and formulatic. There's heavier songs, such as "The Collapse", "Sick", and "I Wanna Be" (which is actually catchy, minus the lyricall rip-off of Nickelback's "Rockstar"). Then you have the soft tunes, such as "Somebody Wishes They Were You", "Good Enough" (the best song on the album IMO), and "Alive". // 6
Lyrics and Singing: First off, the lyrics SUCK. They are so damn formulatic and generic that it feels like their label wrote the lyrics instead of the band members. That being said, Rick DeJesus isn't the worst rock singer I've heard, but he's far from the best. There's love songs, fight songs, and a song about the economic downturn ("Sick"). Also, "I Wanna Be" sounds like a rip-off of Nickelback's "Rockstar". That irritated me a lot, because I actually really like Nickelback (UG metal elitists, here's your cue to insult me). // 6
Impression: Name a modern rock band, and you're essentially talking about Adelita's Way. They're generic as all hell. There's only a couple songs worth paying attention to, and those tunes are "Somebody Wishes They Were You" and "Good Enough". I regret even buying this album, and I wouldn't replace it if it were lost/stolen. // 6
