It’s been two and a half years since Drug Church, the great Albany punk band, released their colossal album Cheer. The band has been working on new music lately, but we’ve only gotten to hear bits and pieces of it. Today, though, Drug Church return with the quick EP Tawny, their first proper record since Cheer. It kicks ass.

Drug Church have already shared two of the four tracks on Tawny: The withering 2020 single “Bliss Out” and the EP’s title track, which came out a couple of months ago. So the EP only has two real new tracks: The proper original “Head-Off” and a cover of “Remember To Forget,” a bittersweet and weirdly pretty 1993 song from the noise-rock band Arcwelder.

So Tawny isn’t a full-on opus or anything, but it’s a welcome reminder that Drug Church rip. The band has smart lyrics, sticky melodies, textured guitar sounds, and fuzzed-out edges, but it’s all built on the propulsive intensity of hardcore. They crush, and they crush in interesting ways. You might get a chance to see them crush soon, since they’re heading out on a fall US tour with Citizen, Glitterer, and Floating Room. Stream Tawny below.

The Tawny EP is out now on Pure Noise.