Unlikely to particularly win them any awards for freshness or innovation, THE MEANEST OF TIMES, the latest record from Boston punks the Dropkick Murphys is resolutely more of the same hard drinking, balls to the wall punk rock thats brought them this far already.

Another record chock full of their instantly recognisable Boston Irish shout alongs, THE MEANEST OF TIMES manages to immediately make you want to grab a Guinness and whisky chaser and go fight the nearest stranger. FAMOUS FOR NOTHING and GOD WILLING swiftly set the scene, songs that don't mess around with attempting to bring anything new to the Dropkick Murphys sound; this is the usual muscular power riffs, pummelling drum hits, gruff vocal outbursts and the faint sounds of traditional Irish fiddles and pipes.

THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS is another rip roaring affair, frontman Al Barr ripping his throat to shreds in his trademark gruff howl that practically grabs you by the balls and threatens to kill you.

Whether the lack of anything fresh or new here is a good or bad thing, perhaps depends on your love of the Dropkick Murphys; this one of those bands that whilst ultimately offering up more of the same on each and every album, are one that do it with such fire, passion and complete commitment to their songs that you'd be foolish to complain.

ECHOS ON "A" STREET, VICES AND VIRTUES and FLANNIGANS BALL all continue on in the same musical vein, Dropkick Murphys sounding like Green Days much tougher, Boston Irish older brothers; blasting out song after song of hard drinking blistering punk rock attitude. The acoustic tinged FAIRMOUNT HILL and JOHNNY, I HARDLY KNEW YOU mix things up slightly, the traditional Irish folk influences coming much more to the fore, Dropkick Murphys sounding for all intents and purposes like a more focused and coherent take on The Pogues. With the bagpipes and punishing power chord combination of NEVER FORGET, the band threaten to destroy your speakers, the raucous, attitude ridden power of this band proving them about as passionate, fired up and in your face as things get.

THE MEANEST OF TIMES doesn't offer anything you won't have heard before from the Dropkick Murphys, but as a raucous, attitude laden blast of Boston Irish punk rock energy from the band, this is about as powerful, fired up and brutally joyous as you could ever hope for or expect.

THE POWER OF YOUR EXAMPLE IS FAR GREATER THAN WHAT YOU SAY!

Dropkick Murphys formed in 1996 in Boston, MA. The band was originally just a bunch of friends looking to play music for fun. We started playing in the basement of a friend's barbershop and our goal was to blend the musical influences we had grown up with (Punk Rock, Irish Folk, Rock, and Hardcore) into one loud, raucous, chaotic, and often out of tune mix that we could call our own.

To our surprise people seemed to liked it and we began to record music and tour constantly. To date we have released over ten singles, two EP CD, and four Full Length albums and have had the good fortune of being able to play across a large portion of the world. We are truly grateful to the many friends and bands that have helped us out and supported us along the way in the US, Canada, Europe, U.K. Ireland, Scandinavia, and Australia as well as the many countries we look forward to playing in the next century.

The bands' main goal is to play music that creates an all for one, one for all environment where everyone is encouraged to participate, sing along, and hopefully have a good time. In the true spirit of punk rock we view the band and the audience as one in the same; in other words our stage and our microphone are yours.

In addition to hopefully bringing people together for a good time, we hope to share some of our experiences and beliefs in working class solidarity, friendship, loyalty and self- improvement as a means to bettering society (i.e. You can preach till you're blue in the face but if you're lying in the gutter no one's gonna listen. If you pick yourself up by the bootstraps and live your life to the best of your ability you may set an example that others will follow).

Thanks for the support!

Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys>http://www.dropkickmurphys.com/