No Turning Back: No Regrets

Some people have been around too long.  They’ve been around so long they forget how long it’s been, and they still think it’s “back then” when it’s actually “today”.  No Turning Back is the definition of irony.  It wants to suggest it’s been forged in the fires of the future, but it’s actually long-cold steel that’s blunted and scarred from repeated use.  But said weapon will still do damage, though blunt-force-trauma isn’t as cut-and-dry as a fine blade slicing through.  Classic hardcore, like it or not, is still around.  It’s like classic street punk, there’s always going to be a new generation that awakens and starts to confront everything around it while defining itself through music, and there’s nothing wrong with looking at where some of these movements began for your impetus.  But when you age and are more experienced, you either grow up and learn what’s out there, or you hide in your cave, covering yourself with patches from every single Madball tour, eating pizza, leaving your basement only to deliver these pizzas, then going after work to the next warehouse show where you can check out the eighteen-year-old girlies that just got into HC so you can tantalize them with your knowledge.  Perhaps this is why there’s such an Enlightenment happening right now with hardcore in France; without some of the original background bands still playing around, at least enough over there, they’ve moved on to new things.  Post-hardcore, that’s really where it’s at, if you’re looking for something new, something inventive. If not, well, No Turning Back will continue to do exactly the opposite of what their name implies, and it’s okay for that.

 

 

No Regrets might need a reconsideration of its own title.  No Turning Back seems like a nice group of guys, and they believe in what they’re doing, but to a fault if we want to be absolutely objective.  First, let’s get the goodies out of the way.  Production, good.  Levels, good.  Chording, good.  Good here we are defining as “audible to the point that you don’t question it”.  Question here we are defining as “you don’t wonder what garage it was cut in”.  The rest should be pretty obvious whether or not we define it for you.  There’s only so much we can do around here.  No Turning Back play hardcore as practically every classic hardcore band has played it for decades.  If you’re a more traditional HC fan, you can jump right into No Regrets and probably actually have none (as in regrets) in the process.  It doesn’t take its time, or any time, to define itself further than that.  The chord work will get you stomping, pretending to rev lawnmowers, fistpumping to the lyrics, running in a circle, and kicking some chick with your Converse to get her attention as she pits.  “Who are you big boy?” she asks.  “Oh, I just started getting into these guys,” you reply.  See?  It’s the perfect method for creepers to creep without seeming so creepy.  You’ll seem like an authority figure, a symbol of power.  Several times No Turning Back actually hit a nice groove, such as the later track “Envy”, which has a rather killer line near the end.  For hardcore, it has both the hard and core easily defined.

 

However, above and beyond that, well, it isn’t.  No Regrets is about as basic HC as it could possibly get.  The Netherlands actually has a number of bands like this, and there are several we’ve come across from that general area of Europe, in fact.  Old-school HC is kind of a thing in certain countries over there, but whether or not it’s going to tickle your fancy past nostalgia is another issue entirely.  It’s quite easy to hear this as “something for the next generation of HC fans”, something they’ll eventually remember as their own “back then” moment.  But for seasoned fans who have been around a long, long time, like some of us here, it’s more of a “well that was nice” moment, and then we wait for something more noteworthy to come along to really challenge us.  No Turning Back have some awesome riffs here, don’t forget that, and they’re classic to a pre-defined level.  It’s just easy to see it as something older fans won’t mind listening to, but will easily not consider purchasing because they already have their previous six, or most likely the first three, which were purchased when they were actually young.  As such, No Regrets won’t do anything to surprise you, like absolutely nothing at all, but for classic hardcore it has more than enough to keep your attention.  It’s rather short, as well, so as quickly as it comes and goes you might not notice it started all over again, and then you’re drawn into this weird “how did I get here” circle of self-realization.

 

 

No Turning Back Official Facebook

Written by Stanley Stepanic

No Turning Back: No Regrets
Fast Break! Records
3.5 / 5