Earache (label)
07 February 2020 (released)
09 February 2020
I think Those Damn Crows are the whole package: they write songs with melody and meaning, rip out riffs that tear your ears apart and seem to have more power than your average V12 twin turbo.
Their debut in 2018 promised a great deal but they seemed to have hit something of a wall in the intervening time. So it is actually a huge surprise that this album is one of the best modern hard rock albums I’ve heard in years – in short, it is essential.
Frontman Shane Greenhall comments, “In order to grow as individuals and as a band, certain mindsets, relationships, and scenarios had to end. These conscious choices led us to make our most honest, emotional, and creative music yet. There was no going back. We had to move forward, smash the glass ceiling to evolve, whilst ensuring we kept the Crows DNA intact. The album and its title, ‘Point Of No Return’, are the direct result of making those decisions.”
You really can hear the result of a great deal of soul-searching in a sense of vaulting freedom and spirit. They are playing with such imagination and honest integrity that the whole album has the feeling of a release.
The subject matter is dark and personal to the band – the opener ‘Who Did It’ is about a mysterious spate of teen suicides around their home in Bridgend, Wales while the dark and brooding ballad ‘Never Win’ looks at a broken love affair, replete with strings and a fabulous vocal from Shane.
Track after track showing that the band are writing and playing at the absolute top of their game.
Having twin producers like Colin Richardson (Bullet For My Valentine, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Sepultura) and Andy Sneap (Judas Priest, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Megadeth) certainly didn’t hold them back and their recording methods add to the spontaneous and electric sound of the album. Shane adds, “We jammed every song in Judas Priest’s rehearsal room (not bad aye?) moments before tracking and recording which meant we were literally capturing and recording the Crow energy we create when we play live.” He continues, “There are songs on this record that are brutally honest and are of a subject matter that are very difficult to open up and talk about.”
One of the best hard rock albums you are likely to hear this year.
