Artist: "Flogging Molly"
Album: "Float"
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: Side One Dummy

Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 3/17/2008

Review: Float probably isn't Flogging Molly's best overall album to date, but it's definitely a damned worthy addition to their catalog. A seven-piece band has got to play together well or they'll sound like a wall of crap, and fortunately Flogging Molly has gotten musically tighter on every album. It certainly helps that they've never swapped out a member in the decade they've been around, and for a band that size who's been around that long to make that claim, well, that's pretty impressive. I mean, okay, sure, U2 hasn't had a lineup change in like 30 years, but there's half as many people in that band and they're also totally gay for each other.

As with any Flogging Molly album, there are plenty of fast tempo political songs, including "(No More) Paddy's Lament", about a united Ireland, and a few slower romantic songs, but for me the highlight of the album definitely has to be the title track for the way it starts with just an acoustic guitar and gradually brings in the rest of the instruments as the song progresses. Bridget Regan's violin, err sorry, fiddle (being my favorite instrument), gets plenty of chances to shine here, standing out in particular on the tracks "Float" and "Between a Man and a Woman" for me. More bands need violins. And banjos.

I do have to say that of all the album closers, "The Story So Far" is probably my least favorite simply by nature of it not being very depressing. I've kind of come to expect Flogging Molly's albums to end on a sad note, and the fact that this one does not is a little disorienting to me. It's not a bad song at all, but by no means is it as moving as the I'm gonna go slash my wrist now "Far Away Boys". It's a song about surviving the hardships that life throws at you, and that's really the overlying theme found throughout the whole album.

I don't know if this album is going to earn Flogging Molly any new fans (though it should), but for anyone who likes their previous work, you certainly won't find any disappointment here.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)