Record Reviews: Whitesnake, Pyramids, Greeley Estates

Also, Santogold, Sumatran Folk Cinema

A A A Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Music Critics Wednesday, Jun 4 2008

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—John Payne

Greeley Estates | Go West Young Man, Let the Evil Go East | Science

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Riding the first wave of a fresh sound can earn a band, almost regardless of quality, a certain level of celebrity. Then, around album number two or three, the stylistic shock-and-awe fades, the crutch of genre association collapses and the traditional career foundations of songwriting, musicality and performance must shine. So for Phoenix’s Greeley Estates, early embracers of screamo’s metal/hardcore/emo collision upon their 2002 forming, this third full-length could be the difference between platinum sales and pink slips. Despite repeated lineup traumas, they stay true to a template of troubled singing/spewing framed inside epic, widdly ’n’ gurgly guitars and drums that sound like belt-fed weapons. The high-gloss sheen of Go West aims to please, synthesizing many Warped Tour sonic touchstones and carefully juggling melody and muscle. But, too, the band offers eccentric glimmers — soulful samples, detached psychedelic flirtations, perverse changes of pace — of take-us-as-you-find-us confidence. This disc won’t make Greeley Estates enormo-dome headliners, but expect to see them creeping up the bill.

—Paul Rogers