Album Review: Dropkick Murphys - Signed & Sealed In Blood

When the Dropkick's skin beater Matt Kelly promised in a recent interview with SPA that Signed & Sealed In Blood would be a “kick in the balls” and chock full of big choruses, he wasn't joking. Approximately 40 seconds into the record the Dropkick Murphys already proclaim that “The boys are back and are looking for trouble”. Truer words were never spoken.

From there it's a glorious ride of raucous punk rock, passionate Irish folk music and tale after tale of life, love, debauchery and… more debauchery. Signed & Sealed… offers no real surprises, but let's face it, the Dropkick Murphys aren't that kind of band. These guys have a formula and execute it perfectly on every record they release. All the great things you've found on past Murphys' records are here in spades. Rose Tattoo wears its heart on its sleeve and will make you wish you were born Irish, Burn is a turbo charged offering perfect for a jig or a mosh – take your pick; while The Battle Rages On adds to the band's canon of arm-in-arm anthems.

Thankfully there's also a huge dose of patented Murphys' humour. The Season's Upon Us is a tale of being stuck with the family from hell at Christmas (sound familiar?) and Out On The Town takes us through a OTT whisky-soaked night on the town where hard drinking and hard smoking women are just one of the traps for the unwary. Signed & Sealed In Blood is another solid romp for one of punk rock's hardest working and most consistent outfits.