Review Summary: Greeley Estates manages a solid but boring metalcore release.
As anyone who has heard Greeley Estates can tell you, the band follows a pattern of getting heavier with each release. Their 2006 release 'Far From the Lies' was slightly louder than their previous, unknown work. However it still featured a small amount of screaming and was overtaken by the poppy clean singing from vocalist, Ryan Zimmerman. In 2008 the band released 'Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East' which was a big change from their previous work. There was an almost half and half mix of singing and screaming, plus a new found "atmospheric" sound that gave the album more depth and kept the listener interested.
Now we're onto the bands most recent effort, 'No Rain, No Rainbow.' This time around, there is virtually no singing whatsoever except for the occasional guest vocalist. The album sticks to a formula of being loud and chaotic, which (of course) can't be accomplished without a few breakdowns. In my opinion, this is a major step back for the band. They managed to achieve a very original sound on their previous effort but then, threw it all away with this one. The songs bleed into each-other in a typical metalcore fashion. The breakdowns and low end chug's get old very fast. Upon listening to the album, I got through the first three songs without even noticing it.
This is not to say No Rain is without it's positives however. The guitar's sound very crisp and well produced. Song's like "They Won't Stay Dead" and "Seven Hours" have some odd riffs and time signatures and the drumming is tight along with the other instrumental work. The vocals are very well done for about the first three songs, not because they get bad for the next ones but because there is little break from them, forcing the tortured, whinny screaming style to get boring and annoying.
The lyrics mainly focus on break-ups but change up a little bit during "They Won't Stay Dead" which follows a story of being chased by the undead.
Overall the album is another okay metalcore release but fails to go beyond that. The songs all sound similar and the song structures follow the typical metalcore, borderline deathcore, formula. Greeley Estates showed potential in their last album but chose not to capitalize on it for their most recent release.
