Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Dropkick Murphys

DROPKICK MURPHYS
Going Out in Style

From: Going Out in Style
Released: March 1

Even at their fastest and heaviest, Dropkick Murphys have always been one of the most fun bands to listen to.  There's just something about their Celtic-infused punk rock that's a blast to sip whiskey and howl along to, no matter what the subject matter.  If you need confirmation of this, just go see them play a show sometime.  It's as though the Dropkicks are the raucous, tuneful musical manifesto of an Irish wake.  That the title track of their 2011 album Going Out in Style is actually about an Irish wake seems like acquiescence of the highest order.

Of course, Dropkick Murphys have traditionally been at their best when telling stories; from the hilariously inappropriate chubby chaser anthem Spicy McHaggis Jig to the harrowing account of drug-induced broken homes in The State of Massachusetts, there's always been a fine art at work in their music.  With Going Out in Style, Dropkick Murphys tell one massive tale (about the adventures of fictional character Cornelius Larkin, an Irish immigrant in America) over the course of the album, and it's a compelling, engaging listen all the way through.  There are too many reasons to love the album, but suffice to say when you get Bruce Springsteen to do a guest shot (he sounds as fired up as he has in years on the rollicking Peg O' My Heart), you know you're doing something right.  And, at the end of the day, it's fun to listen to, even when Cornelius is giving a first person account of his own wake.