EP REVIEW: I Hope I Die Here – No Cure
Proudly flying the flag for Alabama hardcore, NO CURE’s latest EP I Hope I Die Here is their debut for SharpTone Records, and it’s both a love letter to scene they come from and the most musically diverse, savage work they’ve produced to date. From a 2022 debut EP to 2023’s excellent LP The Commitment To Permanence, they’ve displayed an unrelenting, hard-as-nails blend of metallic hardcore and blistering death metal. Across its eight tracks, I Hope I Die Here features guest appearances on every song, as well as a myriad of lyrical themes that address Alabama and its hardcore scene.
Kicking off with Hang Me From The Bible Belt, it’s initially firmly in death metal territory, particularly the groove of earlier GATECREEPER, but the scabrous vocals are pure metallic hardcore as the song hits a two-step rhythm that reappears throughout. It’s the kind of fist-swinging, basement-dwelling hardcore whose pits leave anyone that braves them with bloodied noses and blackened eyes. Lead single Don’t Need Your Help happily continues the pulverising, itself a song about the misconceptions NO CURE have found people have about Alabama in their time touring, as well as a demand that people leave harmful stereotypes behind.
It’s a positive message underscored by gurgling roars and a shotgun blast of a snare, a feral assault on the ears that blends rapid death metal riffing with disgusting beatdowns. That’s a constant theme of not just I Hope I Die Here but NO CURE’s own particularly virulent strain of metallic hardcore. Music often gets called “hard as nails” but NO CURE truly embody that sonically better than any others; muscular riffing, take no prisoners drumming and a violent attitude that seeps out of its every pore. You only need to look at its song titles to see that in action.
The Basement Beneath The Fountain is grinding, cheese grater to the face death metal. Kill A Frat Guy rips off limbs and beats you with them. Your Children Will Drown In The Burning River declares “I’m gonna cut your fucking heads off” before its unrepentant, debilitating breakdown. 54-second assault The Problem Is You (Same Old Shit) is like being jumped in a dark alley.
At no point do NO CURE give space to breathe, or any time to understand the bludgeoning you’re receiving. Frankly, it’s phenomenal. For all its IQ-lowering belligerence, there’s an intelligence behind its construction that marks NO CURE out as one of hardcore’s most brutal, brilliant and vital new bands.
Rating: 9/10
I Hope I Die Here is out now via SharpTone Records.
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