Album: Float
Released: March 4th, 2008
Genre: Celtic Rock/Celtic Punk
Track Listing:
1. "Requiem for a Dying Song" - 3:30
2. "(No More) Paddy's Lament" - 3:24
3. "Float" - 4:53
4. "You Won't Make a Fool Out of Me" - 2:43
5. "The Lightning Storm" - 3:29
6. "Punch Drunk Grinning Soul" - 4:20 (At the end features a 30-second performance by Tom Corrigan called "Rural Decay")
7. "Us of Lesser Gods" - 3:19
8. "Between a Man and a Woman" - 3:21
9. "From The Back of a Broken Dream" - 3:21
10. "Man With No Country" - 3:04
11. "The Story So Far" - 4:11
Grading: (Note new grading system)
Listenability: B+
Relistenability: B+
Listening Experience: A-
Variation: B-
Overall: B+ (Recommended)
First, let me start this post by notating that I've adjusted my rating system to a more arbitrary and confusing one. (: I'll be posting a guide to my new grading system, but keep in mind I'm trying to make it as obvious as possible. I've always found it difficult to rate an entire album with one number or even one grade letter. So I'm breaking it down into other categories (which aren't meant to be obscure) in attempt to allow people a better understanding of the various strengths and weaknesses of an album.
So, here we are at Flogging Molly, after a waiting period of four years they have released their fourth studio album. I want to start out by saying that this new album is fairly standard Flogging Molly fair. That is, if you're a fan of Flogging Molly, you will not be disappointed by this album, and if you're not it's as good an album to start liking Flogging Molly with (or not).
In case you aren't familiar with "Celtic Rock" or "Celtic Rock" (As a friend of mine calls it "Paddy Rock"), it's basically a mix of punk rock with a bit of Celtic (i.e. instruments) flavour to it. Just look at this band member breakdown (with instruments, note: I've included Wikipedia links to some of the lesser known instruments)
* Dave King – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán, banjo, spoons
* Bridget Regan – fiddle, tin whistle, uillean pipes, vocals
* Dennis Casey – guitar, vocals
* Matt Hensley – accordion, concertina
* Nathen Maxwell – bass guitar, vocals
* Bob Schmidt – mandolin, banjo
* George Schwindt – drums, percussion
Flogging Molly succeeds once again to provide me with a very pleasant listening experience, each song flows very nicely, and while the only downfall I really found is the variation is lacking just a little bit (hence the B-). Flogging Molly tends to stay fairly close to the core style of playing that they've developed over the years (and this is not a bad thing since it's a good style). The winners for me on this album are definitely Float (you might have heard it on the radio even), Punch Drunk Grinning Soul (my personal absolute favourite), and Lightning Storm. The arrangements for each of these songs provide for a very flowing movement from one song to the next, and they don't fall into the trap of song duplication with variation (what the hell is that!? Basically each track being almost indistinguishable from the others). Each track is very distinct in it's own nature while still holding to the very Celtic moving style that Flogging Molly has developed so well.
As I said earlier, even if you've never listened to Flogging Molly before, this isn't a bad album to start out with. If you've never jigged before, Flogging Molly will make you jig (I won't gurantee this, but it definitely gets my foot moving). Perhaps I'll need to add a "Jiggification grade" to the albums (: All in all, awesome job Flogging Molly, I continue to look forward to any future endeavours they take on because they do awesome work.
