Review Summary: Cutting their teeth
Alabama's No Cure made a splash in 2024 with their breakout EP
I Hope I Die Here, establishing themselves as one of the most hyped new names in metallic hardcore.
It Is Going To Get Dark is their much-anticipated debut full-length, and it arrives as part of what may be the first wave of bands clearly indebted to the Knocked Loose school of metallic beatdown hardcore. The influence is impossible to ignore: from the metallic riffing and death metal vocals, right down to that unmistakable drum production. Seriously, listen to the drum tone and tell me it hasn't come straight off
You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To.
I went into this album with a healthy dose of scepticism. No Cure clearly take themselves
very seriously, presenting themselves as one of the heaviest, darkest bands around, and that can sometimes veer into self-parody. Thankfully,
It Is Going To Get Dark leans far more towards hardcore punk than deathcore, making for an album that's still a blast to throw on. It's packed with thick grooves, pummeling double bass, evil guitar leads, massive gang shouts and plenty of hardcore barked vocals, with the occasional nasty death growl thrown in to make everything hit that little bit harder.
This is also an album that works better as a complete experience than as a collection of individual singles. The songs flow into one another with barely a moment to breathe, maintaining a relentless sense of momentum throughout. It's full of high tempo mosh ragers and head-boppers that never let the energy dip for long.
The opening run immediately sets the tone. 'When The Spasms Cease' is a scorching opener with a fun two-step section that's impossible not to move to. 'Brain Matter Displacement' absolutely kicks ass, and Bayway NJ's guest rap verse stealing the show with a feature that somehow feels like a 2026 version of Six Feet Under's infamous 'One Bullet Left' with Ice-T - only actually good unironically. 'Slowly Turning Blue' is another standout, while 'My World In Flames' slowly ratchets up the tension before nosediving into crushing heaviness and groove. 'Convulsing In The Dark' arrives with a pummeling intro that immediately demands your attention, and later 'I'm Still ***ing Straight Edge' is just fifty seconds of straight fire, a classic hardcore punk burst.
Lyrically, No Cure spend most of the record angry at the world, with a focus on addiction and straight edge identity. It's hardly groundbreaking subject matter, and at times the writing borders on trying a way too hard to be edgy that it comes off like a 16 year old fantasizing about telling their step dad off. There are definitely a few eye-roll-worthy moments, particularly on 'Starved In Sanctuary', the closer 'Everything I Love Is Dead Or Dying', and lines like
"Tell me why you deserve to keep breathing" throughout. These cringe lyrics occasionally undermine the intensity they're aiming for, even if they fit the album's dark and violent tone.
One thing that helps keep the record fresh is the handful of guest features scattered throughout. While No Cure rarely step outside their lane of full-steam-ahead metallic hardcore, those extra voices provide enough variety to stop the album becoming stale over its runtime without disrupting its relentless pace.
It Is Going To Get Dark isn't reinventing metallic hardcore, and it wears its influences so openly that comparisons to peers are unavoidable. But when the riffs are this fun, the grooves are this infectious and the energy stays this high from start to finish, it's still a lot of fun. This is a debut that goes hard, even if it does borderline on edgelord terrirory at times. Metallic hardcore fans should enjoy this, even if No Cure still have room to further carve their own identity.
SCORE: ★★★★
HIGHLIGHTS: When The Spasms Cease, Brain Matter Displacement, Slowly Turning Blue, Ironclad, My World In Flames, Convulsing In The Dark, I'm Still ***ing Straight Edge
FFO: Knocked Loose, xWeaponx, Jesus Piece, Year Of The Knife
