More of the same from No Turning Back, but then, a NYHC/ Tough-Guy band’s unlikely to really de-rail and throw in a few synths or jazz solos!

The production on this album sounds a bit cleaner than some of their earlier stuff, which I personally prefer, but (I suppose like any band should be) they’re still more impressive live, than they come across on recording.

Not to say Stronger’s not a decent follow-up to ‘Holding On’ though, the album’s title track stands out as one song in particular I’m looking forward to seeing done live, and when they keep it fast it’s a much more exciting, adrenaline pumping experience to hear them play, but for me, there’s too much chuggy, fairly formulaic, safe stuff on here, to really set them apart from a lot of other similar bands. It may just be me, but it seems NYHC type stuff is surprisingly hard to do REALLY well, with a pretty big pool of bands in there producing fairly mediocre stuff, and although there’s a lot worse out there than ‘Stronger’, it’s definitely not enough to push No Turning Back into the ‘upper tier’ of bands, playing their style of music.

If you’ve not been a fan up to now, I doubt ‘Stronger’ will convert you, but if you’re a die-hard, there’s probably no reason to be disappointed either!

Reflections Records

www.myspace.com/noturningbackhardcore