Santa Cruz hardcore institution DRAIN have dropped their new album …IS YOUR FRIEND via Epitaph. Their third full-length album and second for Epitaph Records…IS YOUR FRIEND, set out to do two things: capture their quintessential live essence on record and write new songs that would make their next shows even crazier.

Unlike their earlier releases, which were written before the band was on the road nonstop, this album is informed by hundreds of nights spent onstage, paying attention to which moments make crowds lose their minds. The result is a record designed to maximize chaos and connection. Its 10-song tracklist includes the heaviest mosh parts, the catchiest choruses, the tastiest thrash riffs, and the most screamable lyrics DRAIN have ever written. Producer Jon Markson (The Story So Far, Drug Church, One Step Closer) tracked the whole album live — 100% real-time drums, no metronome, no programming. It sounds the way DRAIN were always meant to: crisp, serrated, animated.

That same energy carried into the lyrics. Rather than meticulously writing everything down, frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro freestyled much of the album, letting the words flow from everything he’s experienced since California Cursed: getting married, turning DRAIN into a full-time touring band, and living out dreams that once felt impossible — along with the challenges of being away from home and feeling the distance success can create. …IS YOUR FRIEND takes stock of both the good and the bad.