DRAIN

Given the general state of things, the hardcore scene should probably be dominated by brutal doomsayers with a hard-on for destruction. California's DRAIN have been offering a refreshing, alternative doctrine for the last decade, and while their songs are certainly not irrepressibly cheerful, the trio's exuberance and simplicity have become a benchmark for hardcore as a life-affirming force of energy rather than a squinting, misanthropic squall. To their credit, DRAIN have earned a fearsome reputation as a wildly entertaining live act, and their two albums to date have been broadly representative of the same: short, fast hardcore tunes, powered by the serrated-edge intensity of crossover thrash, delivered with levels of boisterous brio that put most of their peers, Californian or not, to shame. "…Is Your Friend" is the band's second album for Epitaph, and if everyone that loved its predecessors responds in the same way to it, DRAIN seem destined to rise to the very top of the contemporary hardcore tree. They may not be genre-splicing, pop-adjacent mavericks like TURNSTILE, but their music continues to be strategically designed to put a smile on your face.

The first two DRAIN albums were notable for several reasons, but their ruthless brevity was always a laudable selling point. "…Is Your Friend" matches them in terms of its duration, which falls short of the 30-minute mark in true hardcore punk tradition. Releasing short albums is not an achievement in itself, but it does tell you something important about how DRAIN conduct themselves. There is absolutely no room for indulgence or faux-esoteric detours here. Instead, this is an invigorating, ten-song incitement to riot, with frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro fulfilling the role of party starter. Stylistically speaking, DRAIN remain proudly tethered to their own unique blend of ferocious hardcore and, more pertinently, the sharp and zippy thrash at which they have long excelled.

Some bright spark once labelled the band "surf thrash," which is a lazy misnomer that still, on some level, makes a strange kind of sense. If it's positive energy you want, "…Is Your Friend" has your back. It starts with "Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow", an unusually lengthy piece for DRAIN, but a crossover banger by any sane reckoning. As with many of this band's songs, it has an underlying addiction to changing pace and shifting gear, with numerous shifts in rhythmic emphasis that sound custom built for the live arena. The riffs are uniformly great, the thuggish beatdown grooves are delivered with precision, and Ciaramitaro's feral screech keeps everything on the edge of chaos. If there has been a better soundtrack for swinging your fists around in a dark, sweaty venue, it hasn't reached these ears yet. The remaining nine songs are equally potent, but vastly more succinct. "Living In A Memory" is a textbook example of how DRAIN weave hardcore and thrash together in a seamless, tooth-spitting amalgam. It's fast and furious, but thrillingly unpredictable and over before anyone has a chance to crowd-surf their way to freedom. "Scared Of Everything And Nothing" is a spiteful gem, with darker riffs and plenty of BIOHAZARD-style tough guy riffing, but the following "Nothing But Love" is its beatific, posi-vibe flipside, with a lyrical coda of "One love!" that hits home with casual defiance.

Elsewhere, "Who's Having Fun?" is this album's one major concession to punk rock, with a summery, melodic thrust and a fresh-faced, emotional glaze that could make it an unlikely radio smash. The spiky and speedy "Can't Be Bothered" is taut and tense with NYC hardcore overtones, and comes with an unexpected, hip-hop fade-out. Best of all, "Darkest Days" marries vicious riffs with a persistent, loping groove, and despite its apparently grim subject matter, is guaranteed to have fans leaping up and down like idiots. Throughout it all, DRAIN sound wholly lost in the moment, their dedication to hardcore's unifying ethos writ large across every chug, squeal and bruising breakdown. Music like this is not supposed to be complicated, and "…Is Your Friend" is a simple but heartfelt demonstration of how these things should be done.