Album Reviews

Canada’s Drop It First tackle heady subjects like death, love and life’s challenges on their debut album, ‘Fundamentals,’ out now on Thousand Islands Records. Expect soaring vocals over a backdrop of melodic, fast-paced punk rock that should sound familiar to fans of bands like No Use For A Name, Strung Out, Satanic Surfers and the likes. Meanwhile, the vocals remind me of Death By Stereo’s Efrem Schulz when he’s not unleashing bloodcurdling screams.

Drop It First hails from Quebec City and started in early 2023 when Our Darkest Days’ Vince Fournier and Jam Gosselin crossed paths with Go Great Nuns’ Mathieu Hébert, who played them some songs he had been working on. Excited about what they heard, they started working on what would become ‘Fundamentals’.

Drop It First aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel here and the songs sound a little too much alike for their own good, but they seem to have read all the chapters in the Great punk Rock Songbook. The result? A solid if somewhat derivative album.

Fundamentals tracklist:

1. Where The Wind Blows    
2. Demons Inside    
3. Hold On    
4. Strong From Within    
5. March 25th    
6. Every Second Counts    
7. Dead End    
8. Sideways    
9. Come Back Home    
10. Never Enough    
11. Drag Me Down    
12. The Deal We Made