Flogging Molly

Editor's Review:

Kicking off pretty much where they left off with their last album, Swagger, Flogging Molly's latest, Drunken Lullabies, immediately sets the theme for drunken revelry with the title track: Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess / Singin' drunken lullabies. Mixing trad with punk rock, Flogging Molly lays somewhere between the Pogues and Dropkick Murphys. The musicianship is excellent - Robert Schmidt's mandolin playing and frontman Dave King's banjo picking stand out in most of the songs - and the songs were clearly written with sing-a-longs over Guinness in mind. The obligatory drown-me-tears ballads are present in "Death Valley Queen" and the beginning of "The Rare Old Things," which kicks in to high gear where Flogging Molly clearly shines. Overall the album is less immediately catchy than Swagger; there's no "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" or "Salty Dog," though the closing ballad, "The Son Never Shines [On Closed Doors]" is pretty memorable with it's warm, bare banjo picking beginning to the thick melodies created with back up vocals and the accordion and other instruments after the first verse. But you don't put a Flogging Molly album on at a party to listen to the ballads, and the album is full of rocking tracks led by percussive and rhythmic guitar playing, snare pops and the melody cut through with a tin whistle (and, as it was recorded by Steve Albini, you know it sounds good). The stand out drinkin' tracks are "May The Living Be Dead [In Our Wake]" and "The Kilburn High Road."
- Brian Brophy

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Record Label Side One Dummy Records Released March 2002

Tracks Drunken Lullabies What's Left of the Flag May the Living Be Dead [In Our Wake] If I Ever Leave This World Alive The Kilburn High Road Rebels of the Sacred Heart Swagger Cruel Mistress Death Valley Queen Another Bag of Bricks The Rare Ould Times The Son Never Shines [On Closed Doors]