Adelitas Way - 'Adelitas Way' Review

Adelitas Way, a Las Vegas quintet, churn out competent, predictable hard rock on their self-titled debut. It’s impossible to hear Adelitas Way without thinking of the many bands who have influenced them: Hinder, Saving Abel, Buckcherry. But instead of adding anything new to the mix, the group (led by Rick DeJesus) spend an inordinate amount of time sticking to formula. While never terrible, Adelitas Way is just very unmemorable.

Each of the 11 songs on Adelitas Way could be studied in a class called Contemporary Hard Rock Styles since the tunes all fall into easily digestible types. “Just a Little Bit” recalls the sort of manly post-grunge rock practiced by Nickelback. First single “Invincible” takes a page from the face-smashing adrenaline rushes that bands like Rev Theory do much better. “Last Stand” is the weepy ballad designed to get arena audiences waving their lighters (or cell phones) in unison. And “Hate Love” follows in the footsteps of groups like Hinder who devote whole songs to their uninteresting, immature love-hate relationships with their girlfriends. Adelitas Way represents some of mainstream hard rock’s worst tendencies – choosing pseudo-aggression over legitimately compelling music and flaunting a rather barbaric attitude toward women in the hopes of appearing edgy. These songs have a lot of generic “attitude” but not much personality.

From a sonic perspective, it’s hard to fault producer Johnny K’s approach. As he did on 3 Doors Down’s self-titled record and Staind’s The Illusion of Progress, he gives Adelitas Way what might best be described as a glimmering hugeness. Every guitar riff, violin string, vocal hook and kick drum comes through with epic clarity. Even if the content of the songs on Adelitas Way rarely excites, Johnny K polishes the album so that it’s undeniably accessible. But then again, that smoothness is also problematic. Rather than emphasizing the band’s uniqueness, he merely makes them sound like other groups he’s produced. Of course, maybe that’s not Johnny K’s fault – maybe he realized that the songs weren’t so hot and that they required as much shellac as possible to make them palatable.

To be fair, Adelitas Way is not devoid of bright spots. The closing track, “Brother,” is a big-shouldered sing-along about a family member felled by drug addiction. Opening with piano and later transitioning to soaring guitars, “Brother” clearly wants to be a sad-eyed ballad in the vein of the Black Crowes’ thematically similar “She Talks to Angels.” Despite its derivative structure, though, frontman Rick DeJesus conveys real empathy, and the song’s melody stays with you. While other Adelitas Way tracks might be autobiographical, “Brother” is the only moment where DeJesus seems to be singing from the heart. For this band to break out of the pack, he may want to consider doing that more next time around.

'Adelitas Way' – Best Tracks:

“Brother” (Purchase/Download)
“Closer to You” (Purchase/Download)
“So What If You Go” (Purchase/Download)
“Last Stand” (Purchase/Download)
“All Falls Down” (Purchase/Download)

Release date – July 14, 2009
Virgin Records