Say what you will about Tacoma’s Never Looking Back, but one thing’s certain. For a brooding but sonically average hardcore band that embraces melodies, these guys throw their hearts and souls into the music. While Never Looking Back frontman Jeremy Bushnell screams like a hardcore centerpiece should, right there in the middle of the pack there’s a noticeable passion that Never Looking Back applies to the songwriting process that separates them from the growling throngs of young metal acts.



I’m not an emo dude, and in honesty shit like this makes me somewhat uncomfortable, but Never Looking Back’s debut album, Fragile Hearts, is a testament to the emotional hard stuff — the real hundred proof touchy feely. Released on Detonator Records in June of ‘07, Never Looking Back took the time to explain the meaning of the tracks on Fragile Hearts on MySpace. Themes include personal tragedy, depression, loneliness, friends with problems, unconditional love, and sexual abuse. It’s not the feel-good hit of last year, but for some reason lots of kids with “issues” seem to dig this kind of stuff. In this light, Never Looking Back may be brilliant, despite the mocking tone of this anti-emotions music scribe.



“This is about unconditional love. The love that will make you take a bullet for someone. In your life you find people who you connect with on a deeper level than anyone else can see,” writes Never Looking Back on MySpace about the song “If All Else Fails.“

“You become attached in a way that can never be destroyed.”



It was at this point I realized “If All Else Fails” epitomizes the way I feel about Steve Pool, and Never Looking Back had inadvertently helped me touch and feel my touchy feely side — in a very hardcore way. If you’re as moved as I am, be sure to check out Never Looking Back’s show at the Viaduct this Friday, March 21.



[Viaduct, Never Looking Back, More Than Heroes, Crucified, Enemy Camp, No truce, Friday, March 21, 7 p.m., all ages, $7, 5412 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, www.myspace.com/viaductvenue]