Ok ok ok I know I shouldn't be the one reviewing this. Having had DROPTHIS as one of the main card bands on the now mythical 13SX records I cannot possibly review an album without saying it’s the greatest things since the creation of the MCU. Of course it does help that it kind of is all that and a packet of crisps.
So this is the first full length offering from Kent punk beauties DROPTHIS. We’ve had a few EPs before, most notably the frankly outstanding Spitting Feathers (released on 13SX Records – I probably still have a few cds knocking around the house). DROPTHIS are big news on the UK punk scene these days, if there’s a noteworthy line-up around you will invariably see their name on the bill and deservedly so.
Culture To Criticise is born of all that hard work non stop playing. The songs here are a clear evolutionary leap from what the band has offered before and the mark-up in both the song quality and the bands overall skill is very much on display. The raw power and speed that made me fall in love with DROPTHIS all those years ago is still present and readily available but the group also show off an ability to write a great song without having to rely on speed and charisma carrying them through.
Song wise I have the smallest gripe with the album. Amongst the track list we have three previously released songs which, while having a new lick of paint and sounding good don’t exactly shine against the superior newer material. In the time between their first EP and this album DROPTHIS have moved mountains in terms of skill and personally I can feel that here. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve listened to the older songs hundreds of times already but I found that on my subsequent listens I would skip through to the better stuff.
As for the new material everything here is pure killer. Smoke Me A Ukipper is a modern punk rock anthem that voices our backlash at the new wave of right extremists so perfectly that punk shows up and down the land with roar with “This isn’t for us”. Transmission Terminated is an incredible sing-along brimming with power and dripping with contempt for biased media outlets. And then out of nowhere is Nothing, with a surprise cameo I wont spoil here but that is so perfect in it’s execution that the band could have released the one song 12 times and I would have still being baying for blood to own it.
DROPTHIS are standing tall over UK punk right now and Criticise To Culture is the cement they’ve needed to put them in place at the top.
Like DROPTHIS here: https://www.facebook.com/dropthisuk/
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