Over the past month, a United States city has been under attack by the actual United States government, and swaths of the country is kind of OK with it. Every day is an onslaught of lies, often spread by a comically compromised mainstream news system and millions of bots infesting social media. It’s a fucking nightmare.

“No Peace” is the new record from D.C.-based grindcore destroyers NO/MÁS, and it is a torch held aloft on the way to taking back our way of life. All of our ways of life. Not just one race’s. The band—vocalist Roger Rivadeneira, guitarist John Letzkus, bassist Joe Vasta, drummer/vocalist Henry Everitt—delivers 12 tracks that hammer over 22 blazing minutes, and in the target is a government that has run roughshod over its people in a manner no other before it has. Not that we haven’t had ridiculous problems with every regime, but this is new territory, and it’s clear this band is taking up artistic arms to battle the fuck back.

“Foreign Threat” is a quick 30-second intro emblazoned with weird noise that smears right into “Manic” that wastes no time coming to life. Brutality is abound as the band mauls, howls blinding and turning animalistic, guitars blazing with life as the punishment sinks in deeply and violently. “Overthrow” goes by in a blast, maniacal vocals belching from Rivadeneira’s throat, the band storming with viciousness, letting the power choke you to the ground. “Blood Soaked Soil” storms in, battering as the vocals ignite, the thrashy force loosening teeth. The leads blaze through mud pits, chewy guitars batter muscle, and the intensity drives home the adrenaline. “Abolition” features harrowing guest vocals by Gobi Longobardi from Violencia, her shrieks adding a new dimension of ferocity. The playing is grisly and lands hard, the dual vocals pulling back and forth, setting fires that char flesh. “Leech” brings a more metallic front, belting with raw howls, speedy force, and a mashing tempo. Rivadeneira’s vocals decimate as the band goes overboard to push their fist through your chest.

“Act of Killing” is another barnburner that flattens and leaves, the pace trampling, delivering clubbing heaviness and monstrous vocals that smash with fire. “Ley Indígena” comes at you like a hatchet out of control, churning and adding new layers of humidity, the guitars cutting through the fog with a goddamn chainsaw. “Choke Point” decimates, the riffs chewing on wounded extremities, the drums leaving everything in the dust. The vocals turn raw as the bass trudges and causes brush burns, everything coming to an impossibly mangling end. “Spineless” chews through bone, deep growls stirring stomach acid, the heat wilting amid a series of gut punches. Exhaust chokes lungs as the low end gets fatter and meaner, Rivadeneira jabbing, “You fucking coward!” The title track half gusts and spits flames, delivering bruising thrashing that comes unglued and volatile. Closer “Cycle of Sacrifice” rides in on a thick bass attack, spiraling guitars, and nasty wails that peel back flesh. Guitars swell as the soloing bursts through the seams, the pace swallowing everything whole, leaving you heaving in a pile of bloody cinders.

NO/MÁS pull no punches and leave no misunderstandings behind on “No Peace,” a record that could galvanize those of us who are tired of what we’re seeing and want real, definitive, swift, violent action. The band delivers war-torn intensity directed at the forces that are disappearing our people, starving us, attacking us, and making this country unlivable and a place no one in their right mind would want to visit. Bands and records such as these are necessary, and everything about this meets the moment with fire.

For more on the band, go here: https://nomasgrind.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://tornfromthegrave.us/collections/no-mas

Or here (Europe): https://tornfromthegrave.com/collections/no-mas

For more on the label, go here: https://www.redefiningdarkness.com/