Debuting back in April with their EP, …For the Stainless Steel, Birmingham, Alabama’s No Cure ripped their way through the shores of the south and made a sizable name for themselves in only half a year. Playing alongside the obviously straight edge headbangers Sanguisugabogg, Long Island heavy hitters Pain of Truth, and ripping up stages all along the southeast.
Their sound combines the militant straight edge of many Syracuse legends such as Earth Crisis and Another Victim with heavier and excessively brutal soundscapes owing to the death metal realm.
Not wanting to wind down the momentum the band just dropped their second EP, Cursed At Birth. Sticking to the DIY routine of their last EP the band recorded and released the four-track collection entirely themselves. Only seeking to further hurdle their sound into the extreme limits of the slam genre, they’ve honed their craft into ensuring a wave of X’d out fists careening into bystanders' skulls at shows.
The hardest song on the EP, “Embrace Death,” opens with a mix of blast beats and slam riffs that just seem designed to insight that cro-magnon urge within us all to cause violence unto our fellow man:
Vocalist Blaythe Steuer sounds harder than ever before on this EP and his vocals seem to have only improved in the six months between their debut release and this one. The No Cure frontman delivers them as though he’s taking every facet of his being to the threshold, there’s no holding back in the way he expels them into the mic.
Backed by a rhythm section that only seems to get tighter as time goes on, the riffs from lead guitarist Aesop Mongo cut like a saw through human bones as she switches from impressive leads to ape-like slam riffs.
Bringing their straight edge revenge even further the band recently released their take on Earth Crisis’ seminal track “Firestorm” on Edge Day. A hard track to top for sure but from No Cure’s furious delivery of the opening riffs it’s hard to resist the urge to clamor for the stage and wrench the microphone from whoever holds it and scream the immortal lyrics of the straight edge psalm.
Lots of bands cover classic songs like this without really adding anything to it but No Cure’s sound stands tall as they blow through the track, showing that they can make it their own.
Every piece of output we’ve seen from them since their debut has been an vulgar show of force, down to the music video for their song “Second Skin”:
Lots of great straight edge bands are emerging right now with heavier sounds than the overdone Youth Crew soundscape: Inclination, XWeaponX, and even Trail of Lies still carry the torch for Syracuse hardcore despite being dormant.
No Cure's sound shows that the label of straight edge should not remain in one place, Earth Crisis took it further in the '90s and now it's time for newer bands to do the same.
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