DROPKICK MURPHYS
BLACKOUT
HELLCAT

LINKS:
dropkickmurphys.com
Exhibiting what is probably the best use and abuse of the standard pentatonic scale in recent memory, Dropkick Murphys have dropped a hugely heavy slab-o-rawkusness. They follow in the footsteps of godfathers, The Pogues, with traditional Celt tunes like “Black Velvet Band.”
They pay homage to the legend Woody Guthrie by adding an updated chant-a-long track to his circa 1942 words in “Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight.” There’s the hysterical “Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced,” but the shining compostions here would have to be the two that made me cry. (Yeah, I know, punk doesn’t usually do that…) If you’re the working class, it’s hard not to be moved by the hard-hitting truth of “Worker’s Song (Handful of Earth)” or “ Buried Alive.” Others combine the traditional Irish tunes with punk, but DKM and their bagpipes do it best.

----Christine Natanael