No/Mas – No Peace Review

Oh, it feels like a million years ago now, but way back in January, I wrote this one up as one of our (meaning, in this instance: “my”) most anticipated releases of 2026, and here it is, in my grubby little hands…

It’s been almost four years since Consume / Deny / Repent, which was a smashing full-length for these DC death / grind / hardcore bruisers, a year-ender then and one I still return to with some frequency. So does No Peace hold up to the expectations both I and its elder sibling have lain upon it?

Short answer: Yes, for sure.

Longer answer: Also, yes, but with more words. No Peace picks up the trail where Consume / Deny / Repent left off, which is to say that it’s not a massive stylistic deviation from what No/Mas has done so far, although it sharpens some points to a finer edge and sands down some other edges to more of a blunt instrument. The production is thicker, a little punchier, with Roger Rivadeneira’s formidable blast-furnace growl sitting snugly atop John Letzkus’ guitars and the powerful push of Henry Everitt and Joe Vasta. That increased stoutness allows these riffs to benefit from both sides of the coin, swinging easily between razor-sharp tremolo-picked death metal runs and swinging beatdown heft. Everitt’s rhythms bounce between blastbeats, hardcore pummeling, and thrashing fury within songs that rarely push past the two-minute mark.

From the machine-gun staccato chug of “Manic” through the whip-tight crush of “Blood Soaked Soil” and the album-highlight “Abolition,” featuring guest vocals by Gobi Longobardi of Violencia, to the closing punch of the title track and “Circle Of Sacrifice,” this latest Mas is 12 tracks in 21 minutes, all savage grinding violence, a tightly wound face-breaking fistfight in aural form, but one wise enough to embed enough monster musical hooks to keep even the non-grinders engaged. There’s even a dash of melodeath in “Leech” for those who require a little more palatability in their sonic destruction, and a Kirk Hammett-esque wah-soaked thrash solo in “Circle Of Sacrifice” for the shred ‘heads.

Through a decade and a handful of splits, an EP, and now two full-lengths, No/Mas has only gotten stronger and stronger, and No Peace is the culmination of that journey (though let us all hope they aren’t done yet). Filled with riffs and fury, with a stouter overall sound and the same pissed-off energy, it’s a total rager, and so, yeah, like I said… I was looking forward to it, and now it’s here, and it’s absolutely worthy.