The Black Keys
No Rain, No Flowers
Release Date: Aug 8, 2025
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Easy Eye Sound/Warner Records
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Album Review: No Rain, No Flowers by The Black Keys
Very Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
On their thirteenth studio album, No Rain, No Flowers, The Black Keys integrate the blues-rock sound they're known for into their more recent forays into psychedelic rock. The album starts with the title track: an upbeat, highly danceable bop about going with the flow. The message is heartening, if a little generic. As the album progresses, more varied rock sounds weave their way in, culminating in Neon Moon, a Lynyrd Skynyrd-style anthem.
Based on rating 3.5/5
More pain, more power. The Black Keys had it rough last year after the release of Ohio Players. They were forced to cancel an expansive North American arena tour due to poor ticket sales, leading to a sudden management and PR change as well. Instead of letting things cool off, they headed right back to the studio and booked more intimate venues. A handful of prolific songwriters and producers joined them, including Daniel Tashian, known for his work with Kacey Musgraves, Tim McGraw or Demi Lovato among others, plus Rick Nowels (Belinda Carlisle, Madonna, Lana del Rey, Fleetwood Mac) and Scott Storch (Beyonce, Snoop Dogg, Dr.
Based on rating 2.5
After a bruising year, the Grammy-winning Ohio rockers’ 13th album is a back-to-basics regrouping. But who is it for? In the early 2000s, The Black Keys earned cult acclaim with Thickfreakness – their breakthrough second album and a useful descriptor of the Ohio duo's grungy take on ’60s garage and soul. By the following decade, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney had ascended into the Grammy-winning, Billboard-charting rock mainstream.
Opinion: Very Good
Formed over 24 years ago, The Black Keys certainly took their time stepping into the mainstream spotlight. Only towards the start of the 2010's did the Ohio band trade gritty underground cred for a sound larger, cleaner and stadium-rock focused – a sonic development that has worked absolute wonders for the band's success. Where their first five albums very much hid in the shadows, critically acclaimed sixth studio album ‘Brothers’ (2010) was immediately followed by a swaggering seventh entitled ‘El Camino’ (2011) to cement their status, at least in commercial terms, as THE definitive modern blues-rock torchbearers.
Opinion: Very Good
Drama stalked The Black Keys pretty relentlessly in 2024 and, if you kept abreast of it, you'll have an idea of what they were aiming for with the title of this, their 13th studio album. If there was a silver lining to come out of last year's annus horribilis, it's that they were able to cut another record, keeping up a prolific streak that's seen them put out five LPs in the last seven calendar years. .
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