“Everything I see turns to shit right in front of me.”
If there’s anything No Cure remain steadfast in, it is character and integrity. As unbending as straight edge gets, the Alabama outfit established a chip-on-the-shoulder persona five short years ago and have reinforced their evocative stances from thereon. With each iteration, No Cure‘s message and sonic prowess echoed further, carving a seemingly inevitable path to hardcore dominance. I Hope I Die Here, unsurprisingly, turned many heads at the end of 2024, with a forthright swath of songs that didn’t shy away from pontificating where No Cure stood socially and politically. There are no malleable facets in what No Cure believe in, and that’s likely why they’ve made it this far in a community where the leash for philosophical deviation is effectively nonexistent. Say what you want or have your personal grievances, but there is merit to why many gravitate towards the straight edge subculture. As if to amalgamate this movement’s most essential ideals and purpose, It Is Going To Get Dark couldn’t be a more befitting debut full-length for No Cure. The only vice straight edge bands may have is producing music that will have you feeling ass-kicked all over, and It Is Going To Get Dark is the aural embodiment of that.
Strife, Earth Crisis, Dying Fetus, and Hatebreed; it’s all still here, but raised to the thousandth degree on It Is Going To Get Dark. No Cure‘s approach to riff work, blast beats, breakdowns, and pinch harmonics have always been second to absolutely none with respect to their specific cut of death-adjacent hardcore, yet it’s the signature coating of tuning and production that gives their music the mass of a stone press to the torso. “Oblivion Crusade“, “Slowly Turning Blue“, and “Ironclad” all slowly burn and suffocate, and are reinforced by beastial vocals that could cut through diamonds. Around here, No Cure‘s categorically ravenous stockpile is the single intoxicating substance you’ll find.
With the focal point of just about everything that’s come out this year, hardcore or otherwise, boiling down to raw execution, where It Is Going To Get Dark unironically gleams is in its technical proficiency and care for genre staples over flamboyance. Sure, “Convulsing In The Dark” and “When The Spasms Cease” are another one-two combo of the unique tempo changes and death metal elements that have routinely comprised their discography, but relative to No Cure‘s previous work, these tracks, among It Is Going To Get Dark in its entirety, feel laser-focused and devoid of any dead weight. It would be advisable to increase your health insurance liability leading up to these tracks being played live, maybe dental while you’re at it.
If you needed any other indications of No Cure‘s self-affirming outlook and sheer extent of confidence on this record, look no further than “Brain Matter Displacement“. If the gang vocals and two-step inducing breakdowns aren’t enough to trigger primal tendencies, Jayway of Bayway‘s feature could break that animalistic levy. Hip-hop and hardcore have long intersected, but to hear No Cure integrate a rap verse seamlessly into their brand of hardcore punishment this well is remarkably impressive and a creative capstone for It Is Going To Get Dark.
It Is Going To Get Dark, from a songwriting and lyrical standpoint, aligns with mournful enragement and aftermath. “Sanctuary” and “My World In Flames” are the furiously somber tandem of the album. Between the brief, acoustic closing on the former track and the latter’s semi-spoken word weaving through an avalanche of No Cure‘s metallic indispensables, it’s clear that It Is Going To Get Dark represents a sustained aversion to consumable crutches, more so than usual. There are several affecting takeaways to consider from It Is Going To Get Dark, but the idea of not hating superficial coping mechanisms enough is chief among them. No Cure is more pissed the fuck off than ever, but at least it will serve our ears well.
Tonnage only amplifies as It Is Going To Get Dark progresses. “Sharpen The Blade” drives your skull in between your shoulders with relentless pace, whilst “Purity Spiral“, which anomalously sprinkles in melodic undertones, curb stomps what’s left sitting above your spine through your perineum (let’s face it, a Vincent Bennett feature automatically makes any song unfathomably heavier). Whether it was junkies or their own fans that No Cure wanted to punish harder becomes more debatable, not that anyone who listens to this record will complain.
Expected No Cure to ditch the disrespectful reminder about where they stand on substance abuse this time around? You’d have a better chance of Tim Lambesis actually finding God. “I Am Still Fucking Straight Edge“, at less than a minute, mows down anyone who has ever ruined their own or loved one’s lives through dependence in the blink of an eye. Just as apparent, No Cure most likely realize there will be plenty of eyerolls in response and, nonetheless, reverberate louder than ever before. Embrace it, despise it, or be indifferent to it: This fully encapsulates No Cure and everything they’ve been and will continue to be about.
You’re only as genuine as convenience allows. Straight edge, regardless of whether you conform to its principles or not, is among the most stringent of lifestyles because of the very thing that inspired it. It Is Going To Get Dark is a roundhouse-kick-to-the-jaw PSA that pain never escapes the afflicted nor the ones they leave behind. Every decision you make cascades to someone else, and It Is Going To Get Dark is a switchblade slicing of the audible senses that stands as the most assertive testimony for sobriety you will hear in quite some time. No Cure. Straight edge. Die slow. Fuck you.
