Fiery LA punks GYLT batter and blast down doors with their most cohesive, clear, and caustic EP yet.
Release date: January 16, 2026 | Get Better Records | Instagram | Bandcamp
There’s a great personal fury at the core of In 1,000 Agonies, I Exist. While this EP isn’t the fastest, heaviest, or densest thing you can listen to, you can easily sense the core wounded feeling of it, tucked into the neat thesis statement the name functions as. Over time, ‘agony’ has gone from its roots as a word used to refer to a public gathering or celebration in ancient Greek days to embodying immense pain and suffering. While agony as a feeling has been felt eons over, it certainly seems like it has increased in new, horrible ways in recent decades.
Welcome to GYLT, a hardcore punk band from LA. After getting on with them when they dropped their 2024 EP, I WILL COMMIT A HOLY CRIME, they return with In 1,000 Agonies, I Exist, probably the most #mood title I’ve heard in a while. Their name spells out to Get Your Life Together, but ‘gylt’ is also an antiquated old English word simply meaning a sin or crime back then – explains the themes of their music quite well in retrospect, as well as the etymology of the word ‘guilt’.
But enough of the language talk because GYLT‘s music is much more tactile and demanding of attention. With teases of crust and thrash, their MO seems to be piling on the pain with surgical instrumentation and truly despicably vocals (compliment). More literally, they aim to give sonic life to ‘torture, penance, absolution and how they exist in our contentious relationship with the punitive aspects of god‘ per No Echo. Between its five members, they form an EP bolted together by harangues against the modern state of being itself.
From the gallop and groove of “Bone Rake” to the scabbed-raw punk stomping on “Weak” that bleakly sets itself against the violent cycle of war, there’s a lot of motion to enjoy on 1,000 Agonies. They remind me a bit of when Filth is Eternal was known as Fucked and Bound – raw energy, punk soul, furiously tight execution. At just under 11 minutes total for the whole EP, there’s a lot of noise contained within. Since songs are short as hell, you might expect them to run together a bit, but no, GYLT put in the work to make sure each one has its own identity. I know the intro riff to “Inherent Violence” when I hear it and can’t confuse it with the thrashy one on “Pentiment”. And with a higher polish than previous work, it all sounds better than ever.
No amount of on-point and/or pricey production can dull GYLT‘s edge though. While they’re a newer band for me – and everyone else too being only two-ish years old – between two sizable projects and a couple others (including a demos project on which three of 1,000 Agonies‘ songs were prototyped), they’re already a righteous taste of hardcore delight. I’ll admit my familiarity with the recent LA punk and hardcore leaves a lot to be desired, but GYLT embody the kind of work and skill that could climb to the top of any scene. Hell, they even did a benefit show for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund last year showing that they’re not just about the agony itself, but helping ease it however they can with their platform, and isn’t that what punk is all about (yes, it is)?
With time, GYLT just climb higher on my preference list of new punk bands doing cool punk things. I remember sharing I WILL COMMIT A HOLY CRIME over a year ago with my EIN pals with excitement, just as I did the news of their new one here when announced and, I can confidently say, In 1,000 Agonies, I Exist is a marked improvement on that first EP and a good advancement of what the band does while keeping their identity intact. For the foreseeable future, they can look forward to more breaking news about GYLT from me as they’re a band I just get hype about, and you will too if you appreciate movement, punks that know how to write, and arresting vocals that command the entire room. Oh, and amp feedback. Probably my favorite four-letter acronym next to ACAB and that’s saying a lot.
