[Review] Dreamcatcher go as heavy as they ever have with “No More”

Dreamcatcher have been drifting from their hard rock formula in Korea to something still unique but a bit more mainstream in their fusion, and it’s hard to blame them as it’s led to a lot of quality and a lot of success. Thankfully, they’ve seemed to find an outlet for those who liked the metal influences on their music better in a market more attuned to it with their Japanese singles and “No More” continues that trend.

While Pony Canyon appear to be broke or doing the bare minimum or both in terms of their graphics department, thankfully the effort level doesn’t seem to seep into the music that much, as they’ve consistently invested into developing a consistent sound for Dreamcatcher in Japan. The payoff of that seems to be with “No More”, as it’s their hardest effort yet but also retains melodic sense, which is a combination that fits my preferences perfectly.

Heavy and gritty power metal is what comes to mind throughout “No More”, and the vocals carry the haunting and resonating quality throughout the verses that almost surpass the chorus itself. Speaking of which, the repetition of “no more” and “no way” work well as hooks, but it wouldn’t feel like a Dreamcatcher chorus without the run at the end and thankfully that prevents it from coming off empty. One surprising thing is the lack of Siyeon’s vocal in the chorus, despite her vocal being fit for a song like this. Granted, she gets plenty attention otherwise and it was good to prove that other members can carry a song in this mold as well, but I do think utilizing her better would’ve taken it to another gear.

Because this was their heaviest track the inclusion of a rap felt far more out of place than normal. In a vacuum, it was probably one of Dami’s best, but in this song it does otherwise kind of stall momentum. Since the individual parts work, it’s not as jarring as it could be at least. Shortly after the rap came arguably the highlight of the song in the guitar solo, which is rare to hear about a K-pop/J-pop song, but it had that BABYMETAL kind of quality to it and served as an appropriate transition towards the end.

This probably won’t appeal to all Dreamcatcher fans, especially the newer ones, as the band really takes as much importance as the girls themselves. However, as somebody who got into the group on debut because of their rock influence, this is definitely a positive direction to see them take in at least one market, and it has produced a song that is both energizing due to the heaviness and easy to repeat due to the melodic elements. Here’s hoping for a future collab with Pony Canyon labelmates BAND-MAID in the future.