Live latin-rock powerhouse fails to translate to the studio
For years, deSoL was one of those “ya gotta see ‘em live” bands—literally. The Latin rockers didn’t record a full-length album until 2004, four years after they coalesced in Asbury Park, N.J. (The self-titled disc was re-released in 2005.) It’s taken another three years for the band’s sophomore record to arrive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t realize the promise of deSoL’s debut. On My Way comes out kicking with the title song’s scraping, stinging guitar and heavy bass groove, but the muscle of that rockin’ manifesto and the addictive hook of ?rst single, “Sing it All Night,” too quickly slackens into lite rock a la Santana’s Smooth. Albie Monterrosa is a ?ne vocalist and the musicianship is top-notch, but songs like “El Salvador” drag and, despite occasionally wonderful lines like, “Hey, did you hear me on the radio / trying to win your love” (“Night”), Monterrosa plucked way too many words from his rhyming dictionary. Songs like “Teardrops” actually might sound better in Spanish. On My Way, overall, is too uneven. But you still gotta see ’em live.