Drain
…Is Your Friend
EPITAPH
With everything going on in the world today, positivity is often in short supply. But—hard as it may be—it’s still nevertheless important to embrace joy, to remember that it’s actually a truly special thing to be alive, despite the carnage that can make life feel so difficult. After all, as famous anarchist Emma Goldman didn’t actually say: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution.”
Drain aren’t a particularly political band, but they are a very positive one. Anyone who’s ever seen the trio live can attest that they can work the crowd like few other groups out there, the thrash/hardcore crossover of their music manifesting in an insane pit of feel-good energy that’s as infectious as it is wild, an inspiring whirlpool of physical positivity that reflects that central core of their songs. …Is Your Friend captures that more than both 2020’s California Cursed and 2023’s Living Proof. Partly, that’s because its 10 songs were recorded live with the specific intention of bottling that energy, but it’s also because the band—now over a decade into their career together—have honed their skills as songwriters.
In short, they know what works. Just look to the insistent, uplifting, and heavy chug of opener “Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow,” the feral thrash-punk of “Nothing But Love”—an attack on the band’s haters that somehow remains jubilant not jaded, celebratory not bitter—and the ferocious “Nights Like These,” which is a self-aware recreation of Drain’s live-show spirit. Of course it’s not all one-dimensional. There’s heartfelt sincerity here, too, and an acknowledgement (especially in “Who’s Having Fun?”) that everything isn’t always good all the time. The irony is that even when admitting to that, Drain do so in their trademark flamboyant and upbeat style. There’s no toxicity here, just a celebration of how good music can make you feel, even if you’re not necessarily feeling good.
“Darkest Days” epitomizes that best, but really, that’s the case for the whole half hour that this record lasts for. It’s fun, frantic, and, frankly, fantastic—and surely the future of crossover thrash. And very much revolutions (per minute) that you can dance to.
