Picromenis - Daring to survive (2026)

 

What little I know about 'drill music' could be written on the back of a pamphlet about drill music.

However, if I were to pick a hill to die on, it would be that daring to survive, the debut album from picromenis is the finest record released this year. Especially if it's a hill where you die because you listened to too much drill music.

When I say it's the finest record released this year, I haven't actually listened to any others, but is that really the point? 

Look, I don't even know if it's music. Much less, drill. Much less, music. 

But it's a new release, it sounds like stuff, and the young duo of P-dox and Gonkst4rs certainly know how to rap about their native West Norwood. Indeed, by the third track, one starts to wish they'd stop banging on about it. There's only so many different ways to describe the 468 bus route.

The album encroaches upon more poignant territory in the second half, with the track Weeping Leroy - telling the tale of a firefighter so unhappy with his life that he is able to extinguish house fires using his own tears. Apparently written by P-dox during a spell in a young offenders junior borstal, it may or may not be based on a real-life incident, though it definitely is not. 

Not to be outdone, Gonkst4rs takes the lead on the closing number Head of Fries, where he opens up about his experiences working in the fast food industry where younger staff were routinely promoted ahead of him. The success of this album surely means that he is destined to have the trademark last laugh.

But is the album destined to become a future classic? We'll let their probation officers decide. Next Tuesday. It's only ten minutes on the 468.