Going by the reaction to the first volume ‘This Machine Still Kills Fascists’ on online sites, fans either loved or hated it. I found myself in the former camp as I felt it was a new direction for the Murphys to follow and was an interesting change from their recent albums which have become quite formulaic. However, some people felt that they had strayed too far from their original Celtic punk sound.

The album compares favourably with the previous one and there is no sense to anyone claiming that the best songs were used on the first album and these are just the leftovers.

There is still no Al Barr, so vocal duties are once again handled by Ken Casey. There are some guest appearances from the Violent Femmes (‘Gotta Get To Peekskill’), Jesse Ahern (‘Rippin Up The Boundary Lin’) and Jaime Wyatt (‘Bring It Home’).

I get a great sense of the Murphys digging deep into their Irish folk roots for the music that accompanies Guthrie’s lyrics on this album. The opening track ‘My Eyes Are Gonna Shine’  positively drips with a traditional Irish sound as does ‘Gotta Get To Peekskill’  which is a rowdy little number and will be a live favourite.

Lyrically, the album very much follows the same path as the first one: the trials and tribulations of the working class man, having to move around to find work for the capitalist masters, standing up for what you believe in and fighting the evils of fascism. Sentiments that the Dropkick Murphys often express in their own songs.

‘I  Know How It Feels’ really ramps up the Irishness and could quite comfortably fit seamlessly on many of the Murphys previous albums.

‘Rippin Up The Boundary Line’, which features Jesse Ahern, is a standout example of why I love these Dropkick/Guthrie albums. The song sounds nothing like a typical Dropkick song. Yet at the same time  it is unmistakably them and sounds terrific! The start of the song evokes Sam Cooke’s Chain Gang and Ken Casey‘s voice is so suited to this style of song.

Jaime Wyatt joins in the fun for ‘Bring It Home’, a fun story about a cheating husband who thinks he is appeasing his poor wife by bringing her home new electrical appliances after his trysts, only to have the tables turned on him at the end.

‘When I Was A Little Boy’ is a delightful slow Irish ballad that extols the virtues of growing up learning how to fight, presumably to fight for a better world for yourself and others.

This brings us to another anti-fascist song and penultimate track, ‘Run Hitler Run’. It may seem strange singing about Hitler, Goebbels and Mussolini in 2023 but sadly there are still people now who are of the same mindset as them who need standing up to.

The song is a glorious celtic/rockin’ romp, just what the Murphys are best at.

Closing song is the old favourite ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’ which the band first covered many moons ago, it doesn’t sound like a new arrangement, just a new recording of it.

Once again the Murphys demonstrate that they can rock out acoustically without any loss of energy or intensity. There are some great songs on this album which easily stands beside ‘This Machine Kills Fascists’ as some of their best work.

The style of these songs has been interesting and it will be intriguing to see what they come up with next, preferably with Al Barr!

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