EP REVIEW: Destroy Your World – No Relief

If you’re even half invested in the UK hardcore scene at the moment you should be well aware that wonderful things are happening in Brighton. Great bands, sold-out shows, inclusive spaces, big names coming through – it’s all happening in BN1 and right in the thick of it are the fantastic NO RELIEF. The five-piece put out the bruising Ritual Oppressor EP back in 2022, but when we chatted to a couple of them for an upcoming feature they emphasised that this new record – Destroy Your World – is a more accurate representation of who the band are now and who they want to be going forward.

To get right into it, Destroy Your World is more metallic – and perhaps as a result more ferocious – than its predecessor. The influence of bands like DEATH THREAT and MERAUDER and all the others it is popular to cite for this kind of thing at the moment is obvious enough, and yet it never feels like cheap imitation. The sound is classic but the delivery remains fresh and powerful, and ultimately of course the fact that the band wear their influences on their sleeves is hardly an issue given that the focus is far more on inciting maximum live participation rather than making any attempt to rip up rulebooks which were proofed and perfected decades ago.

And thus Destroy Your World nails all the essentials; not only are the band great at all the moshy mid-tempo stuff – the riffs and grooves and massive breakdowns – but they’re actually also just as good at kicking things up a notch into a killer two-step or something proper thrashy to make the record feel more varied and impactful. Every track is an absolute crusher, the band embellishing their sound with squeals of lead guitar and loads of backing vocals that leave a significant mark on the EP from the moment they answer frontman Ethan Barry’s delivery of “Keep my friends close but my enemies…” with a huge bellow of “CLOOOOSEEERR” in opener Throne Of Lies.

That proves one of the most immediately memorable moments on Destroy Your World, as does the drop to the frankly heinous closing riff in the well-chosen lead single Day By Day, but there is not an ounce of filler – nor a needless moment of respite – across the whole 13 minutes here. NO RELIEF sold out the Brighton release show for this record in just 48 hours and while the band have gone to respectable lengths to stay humble and pay tribute to those that paved the way it is hard to argue with the hype they’re getting when the music is as good as this.

Rating: 8/10

Destroy Your World is set for release on February 16th via Rest Assured Records.

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