Band:	No Return
Album:	Fearless Walk To Rise
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	March 2015

01. Ascen 01:13
02. Stronger Than Ever
03. Submission Fails
04. Sounds Of Yesterday
05. Paint Your World
06. Face My Dark
07. Sworn To Be
08. Bloodbath Legacy
09. Fearless
10. Hold My Crown

Ah, the golden days of thrash. Back in the 80's, when the beer flowed like wine, and masterpieces of the genre instinctively flocked to the eardrums of listeners like the salmon of Capistrano. No Return is a French thrash band who got things going right as those glorious times were about to begin their hibernation...

Of course, being not born and all, I don't remember what the golden age was like. Despite that, I think it's safe to say No Return wasn't a household name and isn't now. Yet they have still cranked out 9 albums since 1990, and are now on to number 10, Fearless Walk To Rise.

So, what's a good old thrash band (with a tinge of death metal in their sound, mostly vocals) to do in 2015? Here, it's a mix of tried and true methods and keeping up with the times. The production is very modern, with clarity in the guitar tone and highly audible/emphasized double bass which has become the standard these days. Honestly, it's hard to knock No Return for having this album produced in the way a myriad of other groups do nowadays, but some of the good old fashioned Nuclear Assault or Dark Angel-style dirt would definitely not have been a bad thing.

Regardless, the tried and true methods I spoke of earlier hold this album together nicely. The riffs come fast and change up aplenty, and there is even a little more melody than usual for a thrash album to keep things interesting. The energy holds up throughout the album, despite never quite going off the chain the way a wumbo* album like Reign In Blood did. Luckily, what saves a thrash album any time things don't go off the chain like that is sound songwriting and album structure. This album is full of awesome riffs, and as a whole it's not too long, leaving little chance for boredom to set in. Fearless Walk To Rise is just a good album all-around. More dirt in the production would be nice as mentioned, and it lacks the unforgettable, special moments that make certain albums stand out among the pack, but it is fun stuff nonetheless.

* -You don't think that's a real word? The field of Wumbology says otherwise.