REVIEW: No Cure - It is Going to Get Dark [2026]
Artist: No Cure
Album: It is Going to Get Dark
Can you believe it’s been over six years since the onset of the COVID-era lockdowns? No movies, no live music—the entire world just shut down out of nowhere. It took nearly a year for things to even start to approach normalcy, and by that time, Birmingham Alabama’s hardcore-turned-death metal straight edge juggernauts No Cure were on the scene. All this begs the real question: can you believe it’s been five years of No Cure and we’re just now getting their debut full length album? On It is Going to Get Dark, No Cure issue a promise and then cash in on it with precise lethality. Staying true to the band’s modus operandi of creating unrelenting and intense—yet incredibly moshable—music, It is Going to Get Dark is an immense testament from a band that has already built a solid discography and name for themselves. A series of increasingly bleak, aggressive and vitriolic tracks without filler of any form, the band’s long-anticipated debut LP is a lurid amalgam of spine-shattering hardcore and flesh-rending death metal and imbues the listener in leviathan riffs, immolating breakdowns and a continuously honed, ever-lacerating and prideful love of the straight edge.
For those who may be uninitiated when it comes to No Cure, you’ve picked an outstanding time to get on board—as It is Going to Get Dark is not only the most accessible they’ve been, but also the most aggressive and unabashed. Whether its the gargantuan opening of “When the Spasms Cease,” the non-stop sledgehammer-to-temple aggravated assault of “Brain Matter Displacement” or the harrowing breakdown that defines lead single “Convulsing in the Dark,” No Cure make it abundantly clear throughout their debut album that they are no strangers to daunting heaviness. However, for every moment defined by gut-rumbling chugs and breakdowns capable of leveling mountain ranges, there is (at least) one defined by tremendous, titanic riffing. Built on pummeling percussion as capable of fast salvos (“Oblivion Crusade,” “I Am Still Fucking Straight Edge”) as they are of crushing, plodding patterns (“Brain Matter Displacement,” “Sanctuary”), the range sprawled on It is Going to Get Dark is thanks to the dynamic drumming the record is built upon.
With that said, No Cure take the listener on a one-way trip to riff city, and the speedometer doesn’t drop below 100 miles per hour from the second they press play. At the risk of sounding repetitive two paragraphs into the article, every riff on It is Going to Get Dark simply sounds massive. “Ironclad” is a harshly metallic straight edge anthem—mirrored perfectly by “I Am Still Fucking Straight Edge,” an obviously straight edge anthem that leans more into the band’s hardcore proclivities. While the former is a more robust and ominous cut, the latter is quick, fast and pissed, giving the listener two different perspectives on a very similar message. “When the Spasms Cease” is another cut of the band’s more metallic influence, hitting the listener with a resounding, deafening impact of metallic hardcore hardened to perfection. The cliff’s notes here is that No Cure are a band that draw from death metal and its ability to make enormous, crushing and monolithic riff-driven songs that stay stuck in the listeners head—all without sacrificing the speed, edge and abrasive temperament of hardcore.
When it comes to No Cure’s vocal and lyrical content, I would best describe it that Blaythe Steuer sounds exactly like what one would expect having read about the band’s instrumental stylings—not because its predictable, but because he matches the music’s modulation without fault. As a neurologist, I’m happy we got a couple songs on the straight edge record referencing seizures—but beyond that, Steuer takes No Cure in a lyrically darker and more grim territory than he’s been yet. This is largely with the assistance of vocalists whose material is also bleak: Vincent Bennett of The Acacia Strain, Skyler Conder of Varials/CELL, Inclination’s Tyler Short and more. “Brain Matter Displacement” is a personal favorite—lyrically and vocally—wherein No Cure’s aggression and visceral, primal ethos is set to display on center stage—while “Purity Spiral” features Bennett alongside Steuer in what I’d consider to be one of the best guest vocal appearances 2026 has had to offer thus far. Steuer takes the checks written with the title of the band’s debut LP and cashes it in and then some—an energetic, immense and impactful frontman for an incredibly pointed and pummeling instrumental performance.
Unwavering in their passion and pride for the straight edge while being just as uncompromising in every other aspect of their musicianship, No Cure reminds me a lot of the bands that made me claim straight edge over sixteen years ago. With that said, you don’t have to be edge to love It is Going to Get Dark (though it’d be a lot cooler if you were), and I don’t think it would be a stretch to proclaim this as one of the most impactful and resonating records in that space that we’ll see in 2026. If you’ve been following No Cure since the COVID lockdown days, then this record is for you—but if you’re new to the sound and are just looking for something that riffs as hard as it chugs, then this is also for you. All this to say that this is a prime and unmissable record for anyone interested in intense and unwavering heavy music.
9.5/10
For Fans Of: Inclination, Beautiful Child of God, The Acacia Strain, Katabasis, Wielded Steel
By: Connor Welsh