No Future are unleashing their debut record, following many short-fused, chaotic EPs and demos. The hardcore punk band from down under subscribes to the genre’s noisier, most extravagant, and brutal sub-division. Mirror’s energy is outright belligerent, capable of inflicting maximum damage with its minimalistic tendencies. The electrifying effect of “Silent Morality” is explosive, with a hi-hat sound capable of literal decapitation, it shatters everything around it.
No Future offer a hyperreal experience that stretches between punk’s various manifestations. They indulge in the D-beat territory, taking a traditional cue. It allows for a grizzly groove to rise, inflicting damage not with its agility, but rather its bravado. “High Frequencies” is an excellent example of this approach, but it shines further with the attitude-ridden bass work in “P.B.S.” and the assault that is “Vampire Ego F****r.” On the other hand, No Future also drive into the grind supremacy, offering blistering speed without apologies. “Endless Torture” features this exhilarating approach, before the proto-grind essence offers another belligerent gift with “Absent” and the riotous “Progress.”
While No Future’s punk offers bare-bones menace and mayhem, the interesting side effect is their incorporation of noise. Whether this is intentional is unclear, but its effect is unquestionable. “Pig Fiend” sees the vocal battling through the heavy feedback, piercing through in a rowdy fashion. However, the noise is also capable of morphing and delivering some surprises. The noise contorts the structures of both “Project Sunshine” and “P.B.S.” offering punishing, brutal psychedelia. It is an uncanny effect, an out-of-body experience that occurs at that very moment. This touch completes the harrowing, dark hardcore of No Future, and Mirror could not be a better introduction to this world of pain.
