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Album Details

• Artist: Dropkick Murphys
• Album: Blackout
• Label: Hellcat
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-07-16

Boston's Dropkick Murphys are proving to be a leader in the punk world. Blackout marks their fourth proper full-length album and the band is getting more and more established in their punk/celtic style. It has been honed down to a fine art that more than just punk pundits would appreciate. Blackout's name comes from the Woody Guthrie penned "Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight". This track was commissioned from Nora Guthrie in the same vein that Billy Bragg and Wilco's project was. And what a song this one turned out to be. Probably like nothing that Woody ever imagined but lively it sure is. There are also a couple of traditional tracks on Blackout: "Black Velvet Band" and "Fields of Athenry", two tracks that these Irish fueled boys turn into punk rock ditties. The band has become so tight but it really is the shared vocals of Al Barr and Ken Casey that really make Dropkick Murphys shine out. The album ends off with a sea shanty of sorts called "Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced", soon to become a classic Irish track the way that the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" has become. Stephanie Dougherty lends her vocals to the duet "The Dirty Glass". This is a band that will be around for years to come. A group with this much creativity and with as much vim and vigor as the Dropkick Murphys will persevere.

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