Reviews
2007-06-21
I was not really familiar with this Irish-American band's former work, but judging from this, their 6th release, their second for Victory Records, I should start looking the former five up.
To put it simply, this is Irish punk, Celtic rock and pub tunes all mixed in one in a merry, energetic mix that reminded me of
The Pogues more than anything else, albeit with more attitude and less stoned vocal delivery by vocalist T Duggins, who does a fine job at keeping things lively and merry all-round.
The only bone I have to pick with this release is that the band seems to have used a bit more songs than needed, 17 cuts, out of which about 13, 14 are excellent, with the remaining few sounding a bit lesser, they could've cut then down a bit. Still, since most of the material is so damn good, it's impossible not to enjoy this.
The atmosphere is mostly high octane drinking binge soundtrack, and the band does that with talent and energy that very few bands manage this well, they also use some different flavors, such as what sounds like Balkan/gypsy music in "The Sheep In The Boots" and other, non-Irish tidbits here and there.
This album is exactly what this kind of music should be like: strong, energetic, with plenty of attitude and a sense of swagger, and as I said when I began – I should start looking for their older stuff.
Alon Miasnikov
