Albums

Album Review: Greeley Estates

[Album: Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East]
[Label: Science/Ferret Music]

One thing that cannot be levelled at Arizona post-hardcore crew Greeley Estates is that they’re lazy. In the four years since they released their debut album, 2004’s ‘Outside of This’, the band have gone through plenty of band members, played hundreds of shows and gained spots on the fabled Taste of Chaos and Warped tours, squeezing in second EP ‘Far From The Lines’ during 2006. With a spot on this year’s Warped escapade across the states secured and further exposure almost guaranteed, the stars all point to latest release ‘Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East’ being the one to see them break through to the next level.

The stars couldn’t be more wrong.

Opener ‘Blue Morning’ gets the album off to an inglorious start – vocalist Ryan Zimmermann’s off-tone yelping sounds like a desperate attempt to imitate Bert McCracked of The Used. It hardly improves as the track degenerates into lazy, generic riffery over a plethora of hardly necessary double bass drum blasts. Thus, the tone for the album is set - a series of fairly predictable journeys through the much travelled template of “scream a lot, sing a bit, bring on the breakdown part”. Within the genre of “emotionally charged” post-hardcore, one might argue that there’s nothing wrong with that. However, when so many better bands have explored it to death, Greeley Estate’s collective lack of imagination and inability to offer anything new really lets them down.

That’s not to say, however, that ‘Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East’ is bereft of redeeming features. On the contrary, Greeley Estates do show a keen ear for a good melody – tracks such as the immaturely titled ‘If I Could Be Frank, You’re Ugly!”, showing off a Thrice-like chorus, and ‘Mother Nature Is A Terrorist’, the album’s standout song, are prime examples of this. Unfortunately, rather than recognising this strength and building on it, Greeley Estates seem intent on burying it beneath wave upon wave of ineffectual posturing and atonal, grating yelping courtesy of Zimmermann.

The unfortunate truth for Greeley Estates is that this, their third EP, simply offers nothing that hasn’t been heard countless times before. At a time when the band should really be trying to make a sound of their own, they’ve churned out a dozen or so tracks that are formulaic, unimaginative and shamelessly derivative. You may yet like it if you’re a fan of The Used – Greeley Estates clearly are – or you enjoy the many identikit emocore bands out there - originality be damned. If you’re anyone else, you’d be better off checking out bands from before 2004, or, to be brutally honest, simply not bothering.

For fans of: The Used, From Autumn To Ashes, A Static Lullaby
Band links = Greeley Estates

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Tags: album, cd, greeley estates, let the evil go east, review, go west young man, the used, go west, ferret

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