Band : Dropkick Murphy’s
Album title : Going Out In Style
Label : Cooking Vinyl
Distributor : V2
Release date : February 28th  2011
Release : cd

If you’re in for a party you can always relay on Dropkick Murphy’s when they come around with an new record. They started out in the underground of the Boston hardcore scene and from day 1 they managed to get peoples attention because of the influences of their Irish root in the songs. A very nice move, look where it brought them after all those years. All around the world they’ve got fans shouting out their name. ‘going out in Style’ is already the 7th instalment and will surely contribute to their already very rich legacy. To put it simply: Dropkick Murphy’s are goddamn good. This time around they came up with a concept built up around the character of Cornelius Larkin, an Irish immigrant that really existed although not every story told on ‘Going Out With Style’ is true. A genius plan. The beauty of nit all is that is didn’t end with just the story they wrote while working on the lyrics. They got in touch with writer Michael Patrick MacDonald. He rote the liner notes and expanded the whole story of Cornelius. Musical wise you’ll find everything that made Dropkick Murphy’s as big and successful as they are now. First off, you’ve got fast and happy songs like the album opener ‘Hang ‘Em High’ and the title track on witch they got NOFX Fat Mike coming around lending them a hand. It reminds us of the very first time we heard ‘The Gang’s All Here’. Of course also more melo track pas by like ‘Memorial Day’, ‘Cruel’ and ‘1953 – Dropkick Murphy’s’’. With ‘Sunday Hardcore Matinee’ they take us back to the early days of hardcore history when every Sunday afternoon a big party was thrown in CBGB’S in the heart of New York City. The biggest chill down the band members spines probably came when they recorded the Irish traditional ‘Peg O’ My Heart’ on witch they got the one and only Bruce Springsteen swinging by to lent his voice. Some artists would give up an arm and a leg for that. When we first heard the album title we thought this would be a sort of goodbye. Now we know better. Dropkick Murphy’s are far from finished and we feel they got some great tunes up their sleeve. Let’s go Murphy’s.

89/100

Stef Maes.