Although the current Chicago climate largely consists of freezing snow and frigid cold temperatures, if one focuses enough, they can feel the faint glow of the California sun and hear crashing waves on the beach. This can only mean one thing: Drain has a new album. Upon reviewing their 2023 sophomore album, Living Proof, I described their rise at that time as meteoric. In the two years since, their profile has continued to grow in infamy, with the band landing slots on sold out package tours and even Danny Wimmer-produced butt rock fests. Yes, there’s a good chance your divorced alcoholic Staind-listening uncle stumbled his way into a Drain mosh pit at some point in the last couple years. Talk about crossover!
As 2026 shapes up to be the year that fellow modern hardcore heavyweights Turnstile and Knocked Loose assume arena headliner status once and for all, it’s only right that Drain joins the party with their third full length offering, …Is Your Friend. Yet whereas Turnstile have shapeshifted into a glorified alt rock act and Knocked Loose’s brand of metalcore has grown more experimental with each release, Drain strike back on …Is Your Friend with their signature “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” spin on crossover thrash: Mosh riffs, Bermuda shorts, Californian smiles and all.
Similar to its 2023 predecessor, …Is Your Friend is also not as good as 2020’s California Cursed, which I’d argue to be one of the best albums of the decade thus far (Already a certified gym metal classic!). California Cursed is the epitome of all killer, no filler, each song striking the listener like a battering ram to the back of the skull. Living Proof‘s strongest moments channeled this ethos, but was weighed down by one-dimensional hardcore chug-fests and oddball explorations. The same can be said for …Is Your Friend, though I might argue the highs on here are even higher than before.
Highlights like “Living in a Memory”, “Loudest in the Room”, and the closing “Until Next Time…” nail the late ’80s NYHC/crossover spirit with greater conviction than any other modern hardcore act today, with even the production and traditional metal-flavored guitarwork evoking prime Leeway. The opening “Stealing Happiness from Tomorrow” fuses raging thrash with ignorant breakdown-dominant hardcore, and “Can’t Be Bothered” screams pissed off thrasher-mania à la Best Wishes era Cro-Mags. Unfortunately, these apexes are countered by inoffensive hardcore bashers like “Nothing But Love” and “Nights Like These”, as well as an ill advised attempt at Descendents worship in “Who’s Having Fun?”. Guys, if you want to start a pop punk side hustle, or even drop a pop punk EP under the Drain moniker, go for it. A song like this just feels out of place on an album of mosh pit anthems.
Between Living Proof and …Is Your Friend, I’m convinced I can curate a fictitious album consisting of the albums best tracks and it would be ALMOST as good as California Cursed, or at least closer to it than the final product of Drain’s last two affairs. Nevertheless, …Is Your Friend is still a cut above your run of the mill, meathead hardcore buffoonery, even if some of its moments almost fall into those very trappings. I advise you do your best to look past those and instead zero in on the ones that sound straight off an In-Effect album circa ’89.
6 out of 10
Label: Epitaph
Genre: Crossover Thrash
For fans of: Power Trip, Leeway, Cro-Mags