Album Review: Downway – Last Chance For More Regrets

Hard to believe that Downway‘s last recorded outing was a split with Belvedere in 2003. Fast forward to 2019. Have the Calgary, Alberta veteran four-piece returned with a bang? Fuck yes.

Last Chance For More Regrets could be a prophetic, or carefully chosen title. The intro track features dialogue (I think) from a Twilight Zone episode in which a timid hypochondriac sells his soul to the Devil in return for immortality, only to eventually find he doesn’t want it. Random choice or a comment on the nature of wanting success? I don’t know. I hope Downway stick around this time and that this album is the rebirth of their bid for immortality.

On the strength of this record, they certainly should be right up there. Last Chance For More Regrets is a towering piece of work, full of passion, emotion and energy. Every song is a winner, possibly reflecting that they have had at least a decade and a half to filter and refine the ideas that eventually turned into this record.  That possibly also explains the diversity of the styling. Black Taxes, Same Sky and Letters are nearly out-and-out metal, Part Of The Show and Mary are triumphant melodic power-pop and the magnificent Last Night is a classic end-of-the-night rock ballad.

It’s possible that a younger and less experienced band could not have made a record like this. As well as superlative songcraft, this is also a production masterpiece, balancing the power and emotion with a deft feel for nuance and space in the quieter passages. With a masterful demonstration of self-awareness and no little irony, the penultimate track Punk OG sets out the Downway punk/not punk manifesto : “I’m not so punk OG/but that doesn’t mean this music doesn’t mean the world to me/I never thought I’d play punk rock in my 40s but I’ll take it any day.” Gangsters – maybe not. Original – 100%. 

Last Chance For More Regrets can be pre-ordered on CD, vinyl and digital formats here