No Turning Back: No Regrets

Just how many bands have been quietly (well not quietly exactly...) beavering away releasing cracklingly energetic music just out of earshot of the masses, is anyone's guess. However large that number is, for it be will huge I have no doubt, add one more in the shape of Hardcore five-piece No Turning Back, who hail from that hotbed of punked up metal..... The Netherlands. What with the band having been together for some fifteen years and having already projectiled thirteen different releases over that time, NTB not only know what they're doing, they know exactly how to do it. This is old school Hardcore, in your face, with a fist's worth of power that's liable to leave you grinning toothlessly, due to eighteen minutes of aggression (there are also two exclusive bonus tracks on the US version, which are both excellent) rolling like a juggernaut from start to finish. Having said that for scholars of the genre, the likelihood is that you'll have heard all this before. So if you like your Hardcore to be straight up and down no frills sort of stuff then this band's eighth full length offering No Regrets will be right up your street. However if you're on the hunt for something a little less generic and more experimental then keep walking as you'll find none of that here. The order of the day being well worn ideas smartly hammered out from start to finish.

So there's the rub, No Turning Back do what they do very well indeed, guitars blazing, attitude spitting out of every line of the songs and simply challenging you keep up as they blur past in a mix snot, sweat and middle finger up at you attitude. That you've heard it all before doesn't stop it from convincing, but it does hamper its ability to stand out from the crowd. On that level No Regrets is an album that will have you destroying your house as it whips you into a frenzy, but rather than insist you return for more, there's a greater chance you'll forget you were listening to it in the first place and wonder who and what caused the mayhem you're standing in. Hopefully No Turning Back will infuse the same attitude and belief in to their next release, which will no doubt be along before we know it, but equally let's hope they also begin to understand their undoubted talents will shine more brightly with a slightly less safe, formulaic approach. Having said that, if out and out Hardcore is what you seek, look no further.

Track Listing
1. Stand &Fight
2. Your Downfall
3. Never Understand
4. Liar
5. Can?t Keep Me Down
6. Not Like You
7. Bitter Forever
8. Rise Up
9. Envy
10. By My Side
11. Revenge

Added: June 14th 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: No Turning Back Online
Hits: 2458
Language: english

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