A quick search online about the word “age” will show you a variety of expressions commonly used. The first and probably the most used one is “coming of age”, which refers to reaching adulthood or a certain level of maturity. On their 33rd year of career, French death/thrash metal veterans NO RETURN have already passed the “coming of age” phase. But that doesn’t mean they have stagnate, settle down or rest on their laurels. In fact, quite the contrary.
Welcome to the new chapter of No Return, one of the most well-known and oldest metal bands in France. The death/thrash machine is back with “Requiem”, their eleventh studio album and, very likely, their heavier and most savage work to this date. In fact, the Parisian five-piece presents itself with a renewed sound, sporting a new level of intensity, melody and heaviness. In a nutshell, it’s No Return on steroids.
“Requiem” tracklist:
1. The Only One
2. Killing Machines
3. Affliction
4. No Apologies
5. Nobody Cares About You
6. Unscarred
7. Survival Instinct
8. Lies
9. The Podium Of Truths
10. The Black Wolfs Kingdom
The Interview
Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, How are you today?
Alain: Hello, everything is going well. The reactions about the new album are very positive. Reviews are rather very good and the feedback too.
Requiem is scheduled to be out on October 21, would you like to tell me about the songwriting and production behind the album?
Alain:
About the songwriting, it is most often the guitarist Geoffroy and I who compose and we send the new songs to the others. We worked a lot remotely and afterwards we had to meet in rehearsal for the arrangements for the final structure.
We recorded the drums and the bass with Olive, our live sound engineer in his studio. The guitars and the vocals were recorded at home, on the other hand. Olive took care of the mix and the master and did a remarkable job and we thank him very much for that.
Was there any particular concept or theme that went behind this album?
Alain: There is no particular theme but the lyrics speak of problems related to the contemporary society of our current world. With the subject of wars, the excesses of globalization, overpopulation, desocialization caused by screens and the need to expose one’s life, corruption and political disengagement, addiction to new technologies, , the dark side of religions… .
July 22 You released a video for The Only One, Great Song, amazing video, Would you like to tell me about the making of the video?
Alain: Thank you for your compliments. We wanted to make a video clip with a different visual than what we usually see.
So we only filmed the band with a green backdrop and we added images and effects to obtain this final result.
Do you have any release day plans?
Alain: The idea is to offer people parties where they can listen to the album and chat with us.
How is touring scheduled for 2022/2023?Alain:For No Return we are planning concerts at the end of the year, and we hope to play across Europe in 2023. For the moment, it’s not really confirmed. We will work on it; we really want to play.
The pandemic has a great impact for the bands, all bands want to play but there is no place for all of them.
10 mind blowing metal awesomeness packed in this album, totally an awesome piece of work again from you guys, how as a band do you feel the outcome of this album?
Alain: It’s always exciting to release a new album and wonder if people will appreciate our work. We tried to do our best to make the songs as effective as possible according to our artistic vision. We hope that this album will appeal to as many people as possible.
Formed in 1984 as Evil Power and as No Return from 1989, with 11 Full length albums, an EP, two demos, a compilation and a live album, it’s one hell of a ride being an amazing band over the years, how do you feel about the road you traveled over the years?
What would be some of the iconic moments as a band?
Alain: When we started NO RETURN 33 years ago, I don’t think we were really thinking about what would happen in a couple of years. It blows me away every time I think about the fact that it’s been 33 years already! I had so many great moments with the band: a lot of shows with great bands, seeing distant places and making a lot of friends in the turn of the years! We probably did some “mistakes” on different levels, but I guess that’s normal and you hopefully will manage to learn from those and shape your career better afterwards. If I look at the history of the band, I think the first two albums are very important for us. The first album “Psychological Torment”, we had the drummer of Coroner Marquis Marky as an artistic director/ producer. That was important for us, we were young, and we had no real experience. It’s the same thing with the second album “Contamination Rises” we recorded in Tampa, Florida in Morrisound Studios, which was the “temple” of death metal. The Machinery album allowed us to have, especially in Europe, a bigger name for No Return. We really began to move up, it was a good thing for us because we toured with Nile and many other bands.
Do you have plans to take Requiem to countries you have never stepped before?
Alain: The goal is really to play everywhere. So yes, we would like to be able to promote this new album in countries such as Japan, Russia. We will see if this is possible.
Being Veterans of Thrash/Death, how do you feel about the global success and a huge fan base?
Alain: Fan support is important to us and it’s also what motivates us to keep sharing our music. Without them and without this passion we have for music we wouldn’t be here for a long time.
Finally what would be the message you wanted to give for the hardcore loving fans around the Globe?
Alain: Thanks to support the band through the years, don’t forget to listen to the new album “Requiem” and we hope to see you on tour!
Music Videos
The Band
Steeve “Zuul” Petit: vocals
David Barbosa: bass
Joël Barbosa: drums
Geoffroy Lebon: guitars
