Brand-new band Bury the Crown celebrates the release of its debut EP tonight at Fitzgerald's. When they take the stage, don't be surprised if you recognize a few familiar faces (and tattoos).

That's because Bury the Crown is the new group comprising the members of Houston Press Music Award-winning hardcore heroes A dream Asleep. Or is it just the same band with a new name? Frankly, we were confused. So we asked 'em.

"It hasn't been the same band for a couple years actually," says AdA founding member and Bury the Crown bassist Ryan Girth. "After the departure of guitarist Erik Girth, my little brother, we've been in the lab toying with some things. About a year ago, we chose Rikki Youngblood to step in and start playing second guitar. Since then, it's been an avalanche of ideas and developments."

OK, so the new chemistry with Youngblood has been profound enough to produce an entirely new musical organism. Sounds pretty righteous. But is this a real rebirth, or some kind of side project?

"A dream Asleep is dead now, officially," Girth says. "It's been put to rest. With this unit, we were performing as A dream Asleep up until just a few months ago, but since we decided to make the break, we've dropped all A dream Asleep songs completely. You won't hear us play them at all."

What fans will hear tonight instead are songs from the band's new self-titled EP, a tidy slab of crushing riffs and tortured howls intended to serve as a proper introduction to the group's new direction. It's streamlined a bit from AdA's sound, but this music will still feel familiar to veterans of that band's kinetic live shows.

"With A dream Asleep's previous music, we had a lot of fun with mathy time-signature changes and atonal things, arrhythmic things; it was really kind of choppy and cerebral," Girth says. "And with this, we've really focused on keeping the drive and keeping the momentum -- building, climbing and falling, and just keeping it moving forward more."

Bury the Crown moves forward tonight with a little help from its friends. They'll bash out the new EP at the top of a hefty bill featuring Hell City Kings, the American Heist, Skeleton Dick, Burn the Boats, Defending the Kingdom, the Ballistics, Warmaster and All Dead Here. Whew.

It'll be Bury the Crown's first performance inside the loop. Oh, and the show is free, making it more-or-less a can't-miss affair for Houston's fans of heavy, angry rock. BTC will have the new EP for sale at Fitz, fresh off the UPS truck.

Get 'em while they're fresh, because Girth says the band has way too much momentum to slow down anytime soon.

"We actually have enough instrumental material to start another EP already," he says. "We're fine-tuning some things and working out some lyrics, and we'll probably be back in the studio this fall. We're just going to keep writing.

"While it's coming to us like this, we're going to try to put out as much music as we can."

7 p.m. tonight at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, www.fitzlivemusic.com.