Adelita’s Way Adelita’s Way
by Ken Mac Vicar
Staff Writer
Las Vegas based rockers Adelita’s Way debut album has a little something for classic and modern rock fans alike, they tend to combine best elements of the two genres without alienating either. Produced by the Grammy-nominated Johnny K (Disturbed, Plain White T’s, 3 Doors Down), it is filled with both hard, edgy modern rock anthems and slower ballads that should earn some serious airplay on Top 40. Adelita’s Way, whose name supposedly comes from an unplanned visit to a Tijuana brothel, spent most of the summer on tour with Saliva and will head out with Shinedown this fall. This should definitely propel to the ban to another level as it will put them in front of what would appear to be their core audience,
The band is fronted by singer Rick DeJesus, an East coast native who moved to Las Vegas where he met up with lead guitarist Chris Iorio, guitarist Keith Wallen, drummer Trevor Stafford and bassist Derek Johnston. The band honed their act while opening for artists like Chris Cornell, Hinder and Tantric, and eventually signed with Virgin. The debut album is highlighted by the bluesy style of teenage wonder kid Iorio and the shotgun-like drums of Stafford. The band’s sound is rounded out by the excellent rhythm tandem of Johnston on bass and rhythm guitarist Wallen. The band combines a combination of indie, hardcore and classic rock influences to create their own distinctive sound.
Their self titled debut opens with the single “Invincible” a fast paced modern rocker that introduces the band in fine style. The tune opens with a subdued vocal over a driving riff that explodes into a melodic hard chorus. The track is highlighted by the outstanding work of the band’s rhythm’s section and has a Foo Fighters vibe that’s infectious. “Scream” opens with a great metal riff that slows down into groove filled start and stop rhythm. The gruff vocals bridge into a surprising melodic chorus that has all the makings of a hit. A bit surprising that they didn’t choose this track as the first single from the album.
As the title suggests, “Dirty Little Thing” is pure sleaze, opening with a distorted vocal effect before ripping into a killer riff. The rhythm section lays down a down and dirty groove providing the mood for DeJesus’ raunchy vocals, building into an excellent sing along chorus. It’s another great track and another potential single, though the lyrical content, while somewhat subtle, probably won’t play on radio.
“Last Stand” begins with an almost LifeHouse like riff that quickly builds into a modern power ballad in the best tradition of Nickelback and Three Doors Down. While it lacks some of the hard edge that separates Adelita’s Way from the rest of the modern rock crowd, it should definitely play at top 40 radio given the opportunity. The band continues n the radio friendly mode for “Hate Love,” an up tempo tune driven by the band’s outstanding rhythm section. This is power pop at its best driven along by Dejesus’s excellent vocals and some well timed guitar riffs that keep the song interesting.
The band kicks the energy back up on “So what if you Go,” built on another bluesy riff from Chris Iorio and the gut punching effect of Stafford’s drum. The guitar work punches nicely through the verse before slipping into the background for most of the chorus, but it’s followed up followed by a killer solo and instrumental break.
The ballad “Closer to You” follows, opening with a moody piano intro before spiraling into a big sing along. Though the band’s performance is solid, this is one of the weaker tracks of the album, not being up to par of the other slower songs. It’s followed by the much more interesting and much harder edged “Just A Little Bit’ The track is highlighted by a great driving guitar riff and killer groove by the rhythm section, think “Slither” by Velvet Revolver with a better vocal. Dejesus vocal and lyrical approach matches the feel of the music perfectly. It’s an excellent track with another killer break, and shows Adelita’s Way is at their best when they are down and dirty.
“All Falls Down” opens with some beautiful classical inspired guitar work over an extremely subdued vocal. The slower approach works much better on this track due to the mood that’s created by the acoustic guitar and complimentary bass line. It would be simplistic to classify this as a power ballad as the lower vocal range approach in the chorus makes it sound fresh while the lyrics are intelligent and introspective. The band lays down a serous groove on “My Derailment”, a crunchy up temp rocker with serious attitude. The band steam rolls into the chorus ala Greenday before breaking into a post chorus guitar riot that highlights the song.
At five minutes and four seconds, “Brother” is the longest song on the album and opens with an almost country honky- tonk piano feel. It contains some excellent storytelling, a bit of departure form the rest of the lyrical content of the album and is a nice change. The melody falls somewhere between “So You Had a bad Day” and ‘Something to Believe in,” and that’s not a backhanded compliment or insult.. The outro solo will definitely evoke memories of that Posion classic, yet the song still manages to sound like their own due to the excellent performance.
Bottom Line: An excellent modern hard rock band with great pop sensibilities.
Label: Virgin/EMI
Track Listing
1) Invincible
2) Scream
3) Dirty Little Thing
4) Last Stand
5) Hate Love
6) So What If You go
7) Closer To You
8 Just A little Bit
9) All Falls Down
10) My Derailment
11) Brother
HRH Rating: 9/10