Death Lens

The band Torres shut down

Death Lens began in 2011 as something almost unrecognisable from the group now signed to Epitaph Records: an instrumental surf rock project started by Bryan Torres in the working-class towns east of Los Angeles, between East LA and La Puente. It stayed that way through a run of line-up changes and unresolved experiments until 2015, when Torres stopped trying to salvage it. He has put the decision plainly — he killed the old Death Lens and started fresh, recruiting musicians out of other local bands.

What came back was a punk band. The surf reverb never entirely left the guitars, but the writing turned outward, towards growing up Latino and broke in Southern California. Torres was born and raised in East Los Angeles and has traced the band's instincts to the backyard punk shows of that area and the San Gabriel Valley — a circuit that runs on generators and word of mouth rather than venues. Speaking around the 2022 record, he described the band as alternative punk with melodic vocals and hardcore edges, and said they carry more intricacy in the guitar riffs than the genre usually allows, deliberately refusing to settle in one style. The reference points he named then — Culture Abuse, IDLES, Turnstile, Title Fight, FIDLAR — still map fairly neatly onto what the band does.

Seven years of putting it out themselves

The rebuilt line-up worked without a label for most of a decade. A compilation EP, 2011–2014 Demos, appeared in 2014; the first proper album, Fuck This, followed in 2016 alongside the Trashed EP, and Beer Up Only Club came in 2017. All of it was self-released.

The record that changed the band's position was No Luck, issued in April 2022 through Secret Friends Music Group, trailed by a video for “DAEMON”. It arrived as Death Lens were heading out on a US tour with Together Pangea, and it was the first release where the band's mix of reverbed West Coast guitar and hardcore delivery held together as a single idea rather than a set of influences. The current line-up crystallised around Torres on vocals, Jhon Reyes on guitar and backing vocals and Tony Rangel on drums, with second guitarist Ernie Gutierrez added more recently.

Epitaph, and a producer who rewrote their method

Death Lens signed to Epitaph Records in 2023. Cold World, their fourth album and first for the label, came out on 3 May 2024, produced by Brett Romnes. Both Torres and Reyes have credited Romnes with changing how they build songs — Reyes said he had a vision for the album the band themselves could not see, and Torres said Romnes taught them how to put a song together properly and opened up a new approach to writing.

The title was not abstract. Torres tied it directly to what was happening in Gaza and to political movements he wanted the band's platform to address, framing the record as an argument for thriving in a deteriorating world rather than a lament about one. Reyes, on the label deal, said the band felt like Epitaph's baby, supporting acts they never expected to share a bill with, and admitted the level of support was intimidating.

What's Left Now? and a split verdict

The first new music after Cold World was the single “Power”, released on 3 December 2025 and licensed to EA's forthcoming Skate — a fit for a band with long-standing ties to skating. Marco Hernandez directed a video featuring Zach Allen, Ethan Loy, Tyler Pacheco, Marley Humphrey and O'Connor Nelson. The band had come off a North American tour with Militarie Gun shortly before.

What's Left Now?, the fifth album and second for Epitaph, followed on 24 April 2026. Twelve tracks, opening with “Monolith” and closing on “Debt Collector”, with Militarie Gun's Ian Shelton guesting on “Waiting To Know”. The subject matter widened from the geopolitics of Cold World to include ICE raids and pressure on the band's own neighbourhoods, alongside breakups, self-worth and what it is to be a person of colour in the United States. “Am I A Drug To You?” is the record's most exposed moment; “Saints In The Panic Room”, “Last Call” and “Pulling Teeth” keep the momentum up around it. Torres summarised the two years behind it in one line: every time the band feels like it is going to implode, it ends up expanding.

Reviews diverged sharply. Distorted Sound gave it 8/10, calling it brutal and honest and praising the anthemic choruses and the consistency of the energy. Punk Rock Theory scored it 6.0, arguing that the band do anger well but that the record leans on templates from the previous album and sands its sharper edges into something closer to a lighter rock act than the punk urgency Death Lens are capable of. Both agreed on the same tracks as the high points, which suggests the disagreement is about the record's overall pitch rather than its writing.

2026 on the road

The touring year has been dense and mostly in support. Death Lens played the Observatory in Santa Ana on 21 January, then a March run through the United States on bills below Drug Church and White Reaper, with SPY also on the package — Concord Music Hall in Chicago on 14 March, Summit Music Hall in Denver on 20 March, Neumos in Seattle on 23 March, Portland the following night.

June took them to Europe for the first substantial stretch: Sedel in Emmenbrücke on 23 June, Supersonic in Paris on 24 June, Vainstream Rockfest in Münster on 26 June, Mighty Sounds in Tábor on 27 June and Outbreak Fest at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester on 28 June.

Their own headline tour behind What's Left Now? opened at Brick & Mortar in San Francisco on 25 August and runs to 3 October, with general admission tickets having gone on sale on 1 May through Ticketmaster. Support varies by region — Heart to Gold, Destiny Bond, Pat and the Pissers and Skinman on parts of the run, with The High Curbs, Chico and Brave Days on the western and southern dates. As of late September the remaining shows are Miami's Churchill's Pub on 22 September, New World Music Hall in Tampa on 23 September, then Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Denton across 25–28 September, the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix on 30 September, the Voodoo Room at House of Blues San Diego on 1 October, the Constellation Room in Santa Ana on 2 October and the Roxy in West Hollywood on 3 October, with The High Curbs, Chico and Dive Time on the closing bill.

What the set has become

The March support slots forced a discipline that has carried over. At Neumos the band went on at 7pm with ten songs and no room to waste: “Monolith”, “Power”, “Disturb The Peace”, “Abrupt”, “Not Impressed”, “Waiting To Know”, “Debt Collector”, “Moontower”, “Bombshell”, “Limousine”. That order is close to what the band have played all year — new material front-loaded, older tracks used as the release valve at the end.

On the headline run the set has grown only slightly. At Barboza in Seattle on 28 August the band played thirteen songs between 8.40pm and 9.20pm. The most frequently performed songs across their logged shows remain “Not Impressed”, “Abrupt” and “Limousine”, all of which predate the Epitaph deal.