Album review: Drain – Living Proof

By DAN SOUTHALL

DRAIN are aiming to bring hardcore/thrash/crossover thing from the late 80s back in a big way. This is something I can get behind as I have always had a soft spot for any and all forms of hardcore, particularly the late 80s and early 90s era when the punks learnt how to play guitar and add some thrash into the mix.

Creating an album that sounds like it was done 30 years ago but staying modern can be difficult, as many a band before this Santa Cruz crew can attest, but somehow they manage it. The music is exciting with guitar bombs dropped everywhere and vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro unleashing a bark that is as individual as it is familiar while the band keep the music short and concise, just like it should be.

Bonus points for the positive reinforcement that comes on track “Imposter”. It is great to see, so deep into hardcore, that the true value still lies in being an individual in a crowd of individuals. As if to play on this, Drain roll into follow up track “Intermission” with piano, looped beats and rapper Shakewell. It is genuinely an intermission as it allows you to screw your face up and get your breath back before the they dig in again and get back to kicking shit over.

This leads me to their cover of melodic hardcore royalty The Descendants. Drain do a very faithful cover of “Good Good Things”, winding back on their penchant for slightly more aggression and just giving the track its complete due.

If, like this over-opinionated contributor here, you are a massive fan of this kind of music, Living Proof hits all the right spots, in all the right ways. If you aren’t sure, there is almost no better place to start in the modern scene than this band. I’m selling the stock high, but it is just great music to have a stomping great time to. Get in the pit.