There's Harvey Goldstein's iterative generalized least-squares (IGLS) algorithm for one, and also it's minor modification, restricted iterative generalized least-squares (RIGLS), that gives unbiased estimates of the variance parameters.
These algorithms are still iterative, so not closed form, but they're computationally simpler than MCMC or maximum likelihood. You just iterate until the parameters converge.
- Goldstein H. Multilevel Mixed Linear-Model Analysis Using Iterative Generalized Least-Squares. Biometrika 1986; 73(1):43-56. doi: 10.1093/biomet/73.1.43
- Goldstein H. Restricted Unbiased Iterative Generalized Least-Squares Estimation. Biometrika 1989; 76(3):622-623. doi: 10.1093/biomet/76.3.622
- Stephen W. Raudenbush, Anthony S. Bryk. Hierarchical linear models: applications and data analysis methods. (2nd edition) Sage, 2002.