Boston's celtic punk rockers are at their peak. They played their small bit in Marty finally bagging his Oscar so they're at the heights of popularity and now they've finally cracked their formula with their sixth album. And this time they're worthy enough to be associated with a major label too so they're all set for mainstream success (translation to you punks: sellout).

When I said formula, I of course meant the flawless blend of punk singalongs with the Celtic whiskey anthems done with help from bagpipes, mandolin, accordion and a whole assortment of instruments.

Album opener Famous for Nothing alone has a chorus that defines what I just said above. God Willing, the second track is probably my favourite. Simple catchy verse and a holy-shit hook during the chorus. State of Massachusetts begins with and revolves around a banjo driven riff and shows the first sign of the damn cool marching beat that keeps working throughout this album. Tomorrow's Industry's  is one of the more rocknroll moments of the album and the chorus again is a classic singalong done to perfection. Thing is, it isn't just the catchy choruses that make this work. Their songwriting has reached such a peak that it almost sounds like what The Pogues would sound like if they decide to get loud and distorted. And The Pogues is fucking awesome and is probably their single biggest influence, so I just handed the Murphys a huge compliment, just so you know.

They proceed to shower us with more of these drinking anthems alongside their takes on traditional Irish songs in Flannigan's Ball, Fairmount Hill, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya and another Irish classic in Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy) added as a European bonus track. Taking into account how catchy is generally the keyword here, this might be a very good album to initiate someone to punk rock and this is a good quality fun album even otherwise. This is a crucial point in the band's career and they've delivered their best yet. Get this and you might want to get yourself some Flogging Molly too, if you like this. 

Year of Release: 2007
Label: Born & Bred Records (Under Warner)