Dropkick Murphys - Sing Loud, Sing Proud! (2000)

Though possessing a heavy-duty indie history featuring such luminaries as the Pixies, Mission of Burma, and Throwing Muses, Boston is also famed for its booze-sodden Irish exile rock. And the Dropkick Murphys--clearly influenced by the Pogues at their most uproarious--are the cream of the present crop. Yet this is not simple jigging traditionalism. Despite employing bagpipes, mandolins, and tin whistles to add Celtic flavor to their sound, these guys are full-blown punks, harking back to the immediate post-Pistols era of the Angelic Upstarts. The riffs here are fast, heavy, and purposefully uncomplicated. The vocals are an impassioned gabble, usually building to terrace chants, while the lyrics are consumed by the plight of the working class in modern-day America and the need to keep a tight grip on Irish history. The Pogues' Shane MacGowan contributes a garbled but charismatic rap on the racy "Good Rats." The Murphys are also capable of heartfelt acoustic numbers, as evinced by the melancholic and impressively melodic "The Torch."