"Point of no return" is the second album by Welsh five piece Those Damn Crows. I only came across this band this year (2020) and was suitably impressed enough to go see them at the Cathouse in Glasgow last month. The following Friday after seeing them, this album came out and reached number 16 in the overall UK charts. Impressive considering this is an up and coming rock band, competing with loads of bands in a genre which doesnt get that much exposure on mainstream radio. But these, like them all, are trying to break that mould. And really this has been the most successful breakthrough by an up and coming rock act in quite some time.
So, what makes this album stand out? Well for a start there is a high level of quality delivered across all 13 songs. Yes, I have favourites which I will go into. But across the board there is not one track on this I would skip. Is it better than their previous album? To be honest I don't think it's that much better. Their first album "Murder and the motive" was a great album but I think at that point they were at the early stages of trying to get noticed and maybe the right people or the influencers hadn't heard them yet in order for the snowball effect to occur and for them to get bigger. But this is certainly happening now.
The music is classic rock and roll. Straight up and to the point. The vocals are clear and well delivered. If there are guitar solos, they are short and generally the focus is on riffs. There are songs which are heavier than others. For example, my favourite "Send the reaper" which is probably the heaviest on the album. But even when I say heavy - it is not metal in any shape of form. Before that you get the piano ballad "Never win" which is a real contrast to the rest of the album. And mixes things up for them. But the thing is there is only one song on the album like that and for me it makes me think if it really belongs on the album. Or if they should have had more tracks like that to make it a more well-balanced album. It's an argument I really don't have the answer to. As it is a great track so needs to be heard somewhere along the line.
Overall, I could go through each track on the album and say positives about all of them. This is a very good album and unless there are a lot more great albums come out this year I would be very surprised if this wasn't in my top 10 albums of 2020. But it is the best I have heard so far this year.
