Flogging Molly

Anthem

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Genre: Celtic punk.
Released: 09/09/2022
Via Rise Records

Album Review: Flogging Molly – Anthem

Celtic Punk Rockers Flogging Molly are back with their latest album titled ‘Anthem’. Off the back of a huge UK tour, the band will be hoping to charm their ways into the hearts of some of their new-found fans once again. Here are my thought’s on the new album.

The record opens with ‘These Time Have Got Me Drinking/Tripping Up The Stairs’ and I don’t think you could open a Celtic Punk album better. A jolly song about drinking too much and not having a single care in the world. It’s energetic, bouncy and full of punch. What more could you ask for? Adding to the fuel is ‘A Song Of Liberty’, a high speed punk track that packs a punch. A unity song with the Flogging Molly twist. You can raise your drinks to this one.

The album has a tonne of character and charisma. Weather its high octane tracks such as ‘This Road Of Mine’ and ‘Lead The Way’ or more traditional sounding tracks such as ‘No Last Goodbyes’, ‘(Try) Keep The Man Down’ or ‘These Are The Days’, the record keeps things true to the bands style and doesn’t throw out many surprises.

It goes without saying that Flogging Molly knows what their fans are looking for and the track ‘Life Begins & Ends (But Never Fails)’ is a shining example of that. The entire song flows beautifully and has a certain Celtic charm that helps to make this track stand out from the pack.

Unfortunately the album also has its lows. ‘The Croppy Boy ‘98’ falls short of the mark for me. The song just lacks any real kick and doesn’t quite live up to what comes before or after it. The repetition matched with a quite dull song structure just puts a real damp feel on the song. It’s not terrible but it’s certainly not for me.

Closing out the album is ‘The Parting Wave’ and it sums up the whole album experience pretty well. It’s just okay. The acoustic style allows the band to deliver a more meaningful and serious track however it does little to really remain in your mind after all is said and done.

As a whole, the album is a mixed bag of fruits. It has some amazing tracks yet it also has some of the band’s weakest ones to date. Flogging Molly fans will undoubtedly find so much joy from most of the song’s on display here so that’s the most important thing. However, I doubt this album will captivate a new wave of fans.