This album came out back in 2001. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Several years back, Boston’s Dropkick Murphys ignited a near-riot among fans at their Winnipeg gig. On this fourth studio album, these two-fisted Celtic punks are the ones getting out of hand.
Now expanded from a guitar-powered foursome to a bagpipe, tin whistle and accordion-fuelled septet, the Murphys integrate their Irish roots and their punk heritage more fully than ever before on Sing Loud, Sing Proud! cuts like Rocky Road to Dublin, Forever and Heroes From Our Past. The Pogues’ Shane McGowan even gives his blessing, dropping a typically incomprehensible guest vocal on the bouncy Good Rats. Of course, the Murphys can still give Rancid and The Clash a run for their money on fist-pumping punk anthems like The Gauntlet, Ramble and Roll and the union-man ode Which Side are You On? Ultimately, whether the Murphys are raising hell, raising the dead, raising the roof or raising a beer stein, they’re raising the bar for punk rock.
