NOELY RAYN – Perfect Is Not Enough (2019)
After their very good debut CD – featured here at 0dayrox – Greek melodic rockers NOELY RAYN are back with “Perfect Is Not Enough”, their second album. It seems the title reflects the band’s goal as the new record is much more elaborated, polished and intense than its predecessor.
To their classic melodic hard rock foundation, the six-piece has incorporated various influences here and there, however the main focus of this band is catchiness and melody.
Another remarkable aspect with Noely Rayn’s new album is the improvement in production, immediately noticeable since opener ‘No More Restless Feelings’, a song rich in arrangements / instrumentation. The band classic AOR influences appear on second track ‘World of Liars’, while melodic rocker ‘Try to Survive’ is pretty Americanized in style.
The kind of mid-paced AOR songs we all love appear in ‘Broken Windows’ – a highlight, while follower ‘Bleeding’ adds some modern touches in the Scandinavian vein of current melodic hard rock.
To provide 80s influenced stadium-ready rock n’ roll ’69 Hours’ brings to party on with its driven guitars, and for more US styled melodic rock check out ‘Waiting for a Magic Sign’, another highlight on the LP for me.
With ‘Driving Home’ the band change again for a joyful FM radio-like feel-good tune where a female vocalist appear for a duet, then ‘Lost & Found’ shows Noely Rayn’s love for Toto / Lukather, something evident on their first album too. Great song and another fav of mine.
Title track ‘Perfect Is Not Enough’ is a midtempo tune with varied instruments ranging from acoustic passages and a dynamic second part plenty of AOR waves with a 1991-92 sound.
For the end, the band feels free to add a lite proggy touch to semi-ballad ‘The Bitter Truth’, a very elaborated song again with a Toto feeling / atmosphere, and a killer guitar solo, the best on the album.
Noely Rayn’s second record ‘perfect is not’, but it’s much better than their already good debut.
“Perfect Is Not Enough” is the kind of album that gets better and better with each listen – I am on the third and that’s why I mentioned my favorites above – but you always find something different and regarding.
Noely Rayn avoid common places and surprise you with breaks and subtle shifts not distracting catchiness. A very good band / album you need to check out.
Highly Recommended
01. No More Restless Feelings
02. World of Liars
03. Try to Survive
04. Broken Windows
05. Bleeding
06. 69 Hours
07. Waiting for a Magic Sign
08. Driving Home
09. Lost & Found
10. Lonely Land
11. Perfect Is Not Enough
12. Silenced
13. The Bitter Truth
Michael Dandoulakis – Vocals
Panos Papapetros – Guitars
Johnny Sinnis – Guitars
Manos Gavalas – Keyboards
John Grypaios – Bass
Akis Gavalas – Drums, Percussion
BUY IT
store.cdbaby.com/cd/noelyrayn1
