Album Review: Those Damn Crows - Inhale/Exhale
Reviewed by Tim Finch
As feedback wails through the speakers, much like the tuning of an analogue radio in our youth, we are introduced to the latest album from South Wales' premiere rock outfit Those Damn Crows. 'Inhale/Exhale' is released this February, the much anticipated follow up to 2020’s ‘Point of No Return’. Since the previous album propelled the band to the verge of super-stardom three years ago, the landscape has changed. Through a global pandemic the band have emerged stronger, with a bigger fan base than they could have imagined but they now have the unenviable task of following up on that critically acclaimed release.
As the radio is fine-tuned and the feedback subsides we are presented the ‘Fill The Void’ the passion filled, rock fury of an opening number that starts where ‘Point of No Return’ left off. The boys have not missed a beat in their song writing, in fact it has evolved, it's grown and as frontman Shane Greenhall explained to us last summer, they’ve drawn on personal hardships and poured their hearts into this next masterpiece.
Whilst the listeners ear is drawn to that powerful voice of Greenhall, it’s the music upon which his vocals sit that really grab your attention. Catchy riff upon catchy riff have you nodding your head as Ronnie Huxford’s drum battery pummels your eardrums.
The album changes direction multiple times, from the balls to the wall rock numbers of the album opener and ‘Take Down’ to the heartfelt ballad of ‘This Time I’m Ready’ and the almost experimental ‘Wake Up (Sleepwalker)’ which melds the fist pumping segments with haunting passages filled with emotion.
It’s an album that doesn’t feel immediately as accessible as ‘Point of No Return’ did, and that was a factor in the huge success the band garnered from the preceding album. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, on each return listen the album offers more, elements missed on previous listens. It’s stature grows as you return to it, it highlights the maturity of the song writing, it may not be as immediate but it’s bigger, more diverse, more in depth than anything they’ve done before.
