Flogging Molly’s status as one of the pioneering bands, alongside Dropkick Murphys and The Real McKenzies, that put Celtic punk on the map is unquestionable. Unlike their rowdier contemporaries, Flogging Molly have leant more on the folkier side of Celtic punk, and in recent years have employed the beauty and sadness of traditional Irish folk music to bring heart warming and equally soul wrenching songs to the masses. With considerable time between albums due to relentless touring, there is plenty of time for the band to take their time to craft engaging songs that tell stories of people from all walks of life, bringing everyone together through shared experiences and struggles. Anthem is does exactly that.
Whilst the interweaving melodies of the traditional instruments will no doubt fire the imagination, as your mind presents pictures of the working class in the industrialised Irish cities, fighting their way out by any means necessary. With this in mind, Flogging Molly convey a positive message of sticking to your path, remembering your roots and fighting for what you believe in. Anthem, like the majority of Flogging Molly’s back catalogue, is wonderfully descriptive album, the poetic lyrics puts you straight into the heart of Dave King’s observational stories. As with their last album, Life Is Good, the band continue to strip away some of the more raucous and raw punky elements from their sound and venture further into Celtic folk rock. On the rockier songs the band explore traditional sounding melodies and infusing the rock elements with the rhythms of jig and reel music, Anthem will certainly get you dancing in some areas.
Ultimately though, the album fails to rouse the spirits compared to some of the band’s earlier work as the rousing songs are weighted towards the beginning of the album. With slow, maudlin ballads rather than foot tapping, fist pumping Celtic punk anthems, of course the irony in is that at least half the album doesn’t sound anthemic in the slightest. The slower pacing that transcends the album resembles an Irish traditional music album. With the ballads embodying Caoineadh style songs, lamenting the world’s current situation. As these slower songs are all weighted towards the end of the album, the jolly momentum built up by songs such as ‘The Croppy Boy ’98’, ‘This Road Of Mine’ and ‘Life Begins & Ends (But Never Fails)’ is considerably lost. It feels like there is an unequal balance that distracts from the enjoyment of the band’s songs.
Despite this imbalance, Flogging Molly have always written evocative and energetic melodies, and one that stands out is ‘The Croppy Boy ’98’. The catchy chorus lyrics talking about fried eggs in the morning and meeting your love in the afternoon is an ear worm of a song. Another song worth mentioning is ‘These Time Have Got Me Drinking/ Tripping Up The Stairs’, as this opens the album with an awesome punky energy, bringing everything that we love Celtic punk into one drinking song. Outside of this, nothing much really stands out, it is a perfectly serviceable collection of Celtic punk songs but ultimately feels flat and uninspired.
Flogging Molly have once again pumped out another good Celtic punk album, but it falls short of its title. Sadly, not much of the album is anthemic and as a result is quite disappointing. Whilst the storytelling captures the imagination the music behind it fails to make it truly memorable like songs such as ‘Drunken Lullabies’ or ‘Speed Of Darkness’. Hopefully the band can find their mojo again in future releases.