Dropkick Murphys

Item: Blackout
Author: Josh Blackway

Blackout

(2003)

Reviewed by Josh Blackway

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Label Hellcat RecordsDecapolisJune 2003

celtic punk hardcore punk punk

Boston. Home of the Green Monster, lots of college kids, lots of Irish, and the Dropkick Murphys. The Murphys are very proud of their Irish heritage and the city they reside in. Not much these days has been exciting me musically, but I've been excited about the newest album from these 'Boys on the Docks' for a while. "Blackout" is their new cd/dvd, out on Hellcat Records.

Not only does this album come with 14 anthems that you can sing along with after the first listen, but it also comes with a dvd containing 2 live songs, a new video for the single - "Gonna be a Blackout Tonight", and a trailer for their forthcoming full length dvd. The dvd is good but you'll probably only watch it once, maybe twice to show a friend. Music dvd's don't make a ton of sense to me, but if you've never seen this band live, it'll give you a decent look at what some of their shows are like. The band will put on an amazing show and you can catch them at this year's Warped Tour.

Some people can't take the bag pipes, which are in most every DM song. But this album doesn't blast them as much as they did in the past, and they aren't used in every song. Instead of using the pipes annoyingly, as to try & set the band apart from other Hellcat style bands, they use them in the background for most songs and push more guitars in the mix for a very powerful punk rock masterpiece. It grabs you right away with the 1st track, "Walk Away", a personal story to a father who walked out on his family. The song is very catchy, but kinda sad really, showing more maturity in the band. The next 4 tracks keep the sing-alongs flowing, until you can finally get a breather with the softer, slower, "World Full of Hate". They pick right back up again with the fast & catchy choruses of "Buried Alive", a story of 9 men trapped in a mine, praying for a miracle.

This album keeps getting more & more fun as it goes on. The next 6 tracks are straight up fun-filled anthems that you need to be careful not to crash your car while listening. For track 12, you better pull over. "This is Your Life" is a rock & roll song. I'm not a violent guy, but for some reason a song about fighting has a certain fun power to it. The Dropkick Murphys have a lot of songs about fighting, and this one is my new personal favorite DM fight song, and I think the best song on the album. "Fight, fight, you'll never win. Tonight I'll start again. Fight, fight you'll never win. How will I make amends."

Ok, wipe the blood & sweat off your face & finish out the album with "Time to Go", a hockey song (the Murphys love their Boston Bruins), and "Kiss me I'm #!@*faced", which will just make you laugh.

14 songs to put your arm around a buddy & raise your fists in the air to. It's fun. That's what good rock & roll is supposed to be. For you punk kids, this album will not only hold you over until Rancid's new album comes out in July, but it will make you realize once again how much fun good rock & roll really is.