Sing Loud, Sing Proud

Though possessing a heavy-duty indie history that includes such luminaries as the Pixies, the Lemonheads and Throwing Muses, Boston is also famed for its booze-sodden, craic-driven Irish Exile rock. And Dropkick Murphys--clearly influenced by The Pogues at their most uproarious--are the cream of the present crop. Yet this is not simple jigging traditionalism. Despite employing bagpipes, mandolins and tin whistles to add Celtic flavour to their sound, these guys are full-blown punks, harking back to the immediate post-Pistols era of the Angelic Upstarts. The riffs here are fast, heavy and purposefully uncomplicated, often recalling such bludgeoning classics as "God Save The Queen". The vocals are an impassioned gabble, usually building to terrace chants, while the lyrics are consumed by the plight of the working class in modern-day America and the need to keep a tight grip on a sense of Irish history. The Pogues' Shane MacGowan contributes a garbled but charismatic rap to the racy "Good Rats", and if you are after something more than a beer-soaked mosh-party, the Murphys are also capable of heartfelt acoustic numbers, as evinced by the melancholic and impressively melodic "The Torch". Sing Loud, Sing Proud is the Oi polloi at their indomitable best. Be warned. --Dominic Wills

1. For Boston