NEVER LOOKING BACK "Fragile Hearts" (Detonate Records)
Review by Jordan A. Baker
Source: www.pastepunk.com

Tacoma, Washington's NEVER LOOKING BACK play a hearty amalgamation of powerful, mid-paced, Northwest hardcore not unlike scene forebearers STRAIN, and the recently defunct BLUE MONDAY. Not quite as old-school as CHAMPION or as melodic as SHOOK ONES, NEVER LOOKING BACK accentuate their plodding tunes with belligerent screaming and earth-tearing breakdowns. Fragile Hearts is fierce, but it comes up a little short in breaking free from the pack. Lead singer Jeremy Bushnell has a monolithic growl at his disposal, but one would be hard-pressed to select his frothing style from thousands of other hardcore shouters. However, NEVER LOOKING BACK impress with tight-knit songwriting and a deliberate, pow-pow-pow rhythm section. These guys (and gal) really grind out their guitar chuggs and toss double-bass javelins with laser precision. Similar to the richness of MODERN LIFE IS WAR, you can almost feel the gears and levers clicking along as this nine song full-length plays out. Despite a couple of lyrical and thematic cliches here and there (notably another/ song that includes yelling the line "It's All I Have!!!" -- zzzzz...), NEVER LOOKING BACK undoubtedly turn in a solid effort, and hopefully it won't be their last.

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Never Looking Back
Fragile Hearts
Detonate Records
By: Jeff Karbow
Source: www.siczine.com

From the far Northwest comes these guys and a gal from Tacoma, WA who play slightly metallic melodic hardcore. Not exactly sure what these guys have under their belts in terms of material, but I'm fairly certain that this is their debut full length.

There are 9 rock solid songs of driving melodic hardcore that has some short lived breakdowns that spice up the tracks a bit. The songs usually get over the 3 minute mark with ease, with two songs that are short, barely breaking the minute mark.

The band does a good job of layering the melodic chord progressions with the driving basslines and pummeling kick (ever so often the drummer will bust into a little double bass). The singer has a great voice for this brand of hardcore, his voice comes off desperate (in a good way). The one thing I didn't like were the clean back up vocals, luckily sparingly because if that was used for the whole album, wouldn't have liked this album nearly as much.
The lyrics touch on a variety of good issues: there's a song about girls who get abused sexually ("Eyes Never Lie"), having unconditional love for someone ("If All Else Fails"), reacting to someone close to you dying ("It's All I Have"), realizing you have to make your own path in life, ("Impossible Dreams"), giving everything they have to the band ("These Days"), looking at life more positively than negatively ("Never Ending"). It's also important to note, they are well written and are definitely one of the strong points of the band.

This one sports an above average recording. The drums sound natural, the kick has good tone and plenty of level. The bass tone is pretty good, it's got a nice mid-high tone that works well within the mix. It does the job of filling the gap between the guitars and drums. I like the guitar tone, it isn't really "thick" but that isn't necessarily needed. Nothing bad to say about the vocals.
Nothing terribly eye catching with this layout but it'll suffice. It's got all the basic essentials; the typical hardcore font for band name and album title, check. The live band shot contrasted into the background, check. Some of the finer aspects of this layout; the quote "This is fear...this is love...this is anger", from "Never Ending" that is placed on the exposed part of the tray. And the lyrics that come with an explanation from the man who wrote them. I like the color scheme too.