Photo by Atiba Jefferson

Being in a hardcore band can be serious business these days, especially considering everything that happens in this darkest timeline. But it also looks like a hell lot of fun, especially if you’ve been living the life DRAIN have since breaking through recklessly with their 2020 debut, California Cursed, before jumping off into deep end into bigger waters with that momentum on their 2023 sophomore effort for Epitaph Records, LIVING PROOF. They’ve seen some shit, for the better, because of it, and “Nights Like These” is just straight up big, hulking, metal-injected hardcore fun from the Santa Cruz trio’s forthcoming third studio effort, …IS YOUR FRIEND, that has no ulterior motives beyond living in those highs. “The energy I feed, you feed, we feel alive / Just for tonight,” vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro screams in stereo with electricity running through his veins. “No thoughts at all / I feel no hurt, I feel no pain / Just for today.” Sometimes, we forget joy still exists in this brutally defeating world. DRAIN’s hardcore anthem grants you permission to remember that it doesn’t, very loudly at that.

DRAIN’s …IS YOUR FRIEND will be released November 7th on Epitaph Records.