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I would never in a million years have guessed that I'd enjoy listening to bagpipes this much. You normally hear them in some irish bars or on the soundtrack of movies like Braveheart, where I admit they fit to the atmosphere wonderfully but played together with hard-riffin' electric guitars and aggressive vocals? Come on - surely such a combination would be good only for a laugh...? But then, one day - without warning I get possessed by some unknown force while going through the shelves of my local record store and pick up the CD Blackout by a band Dropkick Murphys, which I'd never heard anything of before - and my opinions were changed with a sharp kick to the balls delivered by this Boston band and a CD that's one of the most enjoyable ones I've heard lately. The Murphys play an interesting mixture of punk/rock/folk music that in it's uniqueness sounds extremely fresh and intriguing. They have used this combination on all their other albums I've got so far, but on Blackout the balance between all these ingredients is really forging together in a way that sounds pretty near perfect. Constructing the DKM sound are first of all selection of irish instruments (to be honest, I don't even know what are bodhran or dulcimer...) working together with "normal" band equipment. Lead vocals (shared by Al Barr and Ken Casey) are another big factor of the DKM sound, giving the songs a lot of depth: whether the song's about poor workers being pushed to fight fat politician's wars (Worker's Song), or about some drunken bastard trying to pick up girls at the bar (Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced) it actually feels like the singer is delivering true emotions. Also, gang-like backing vocals are used a lot - adding more punch to the songs. The album Blackout has a total of 14 songs. Not every one is great, but there's plenty of highlights to force you to keep spinning the album in the CD player repeatedly. Album starter "Walk Away" doesn't really show what Murphys is all about as it's quite "normal" punky hard rock song (or the other way around), although an extremely good one. Track number two "Worker's Song", however is trademark Murphys with it's gutsy vocal delivery, catchy mob-like backing vocals on chorus and some skirling of bagpipes driving it onwards. Really excellent song and one of my favourites on the album. Other stand-out songs are "Black Velvet Band" - a traditional tune given a smashing DKM treatment, "World Full Of Hate" - a short ballady piece that has some really cool guitar playing and nice bitter sweet lyrics. Add to this "This Is Your Life" that is one of those songs that you surprise yourself with by realising how fast you start to sing along to it, and "Fields Of Athenry" another cover of classic irish tunes, and once again nicely executed by the Murphys, the bagpipe solo joined by guitars in this song is brilliant. The aforementioned songs remain my favourites on the album, and each one of them is nothing short of great. The rest of the album includes good tracks as well - although some weaker ones too, like "Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight" or Boston Bruins' cheering song "Time To Go", which fail to impress me much. Overall, a great album although some songs do get a bit overshadowed by the better ones. Since getting Blackout I've
gotten very atticted to this kind of music (excellent Flogging Molly
being very similar band). Hugely entertaining and enjoyable stuff that
puts a big smile on your face and leaves you wanting more. Highly recommended! |
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Captain Scurvy / September 2003 |
