Kilmaine Saints "Drunken Redemption" KS002
Release date: September 2012
Running time: 46:09, 15 tracks
Better than expected. I knew that the new Kilmaine Saints album would be an amazing album and, to tell you the truth, it’s really better than expected.
After a fundraising campaign, the band from Harrisburg has been able to issue the sophomore release to “The Good, The Plaid and The Ugly”. Several line-up changes have taken place (the band has been reduced from 8 to 6 members), but the original spirit is alive. Kilmaine Saints have worked again with Jason Shaffer, who has recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered the album. This time the album has been produced by bassist and piper John Heller. So, it’s clear that the band was happy with the sound of their previous effort. Once again the packaging is wonderful, a digipack with a great artwork and a folded piece of paper including lyrics and credits.
As far as the songs are concerned, five of them are traditional numbers and ten of them self-penned songs. The traditional numbers are awesome: a great rendition of the “Swallowtail Jig”; a song titled “Brave Yankee Boys” based on a traditional tune and a poem called “Truxton’s Victory” arranged by the band and a kick-ass rebel song, “Go On Home British Soldiers”. I must admit that “Fields of Athenry” is interesting, even if it’s an overexposed song. However, “Haul Away Joe” fails. Let’s say that MacKeel recorded a cover that cannot be beaten.
Original songs have been written by drummer Mike McNaughton, fiddler Liz Mallin and singer Brendan Power. From the bagpipes intro “Quick March” to the last song “Old Rugged Cross”, the band delivers true gems like “Battle Cry”, “When We Come”and “Black & Blue Jig”. Track no. 11, “The Whiskey’ Calling” has been written by John Heller and ex-band member Frank Aponte and is the only fully acoustic song on the album.
Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys and The Dreadnoughts are some of the most influential bands in the Celtic punk scene. The Kilmaine Saints have been able to take elements from those bands and put them together on their own DNA. “Old Rugged Cross” is a song that has a similar approach to The Dreadnoughts and “Quick March” follows the DKM tradition of bagpipes intros from their early albums. But perhaps the most interesting thing is how the band from Pensylvannia has brought Flogging Molly’s sound/music to a new level. A level similar to that of European bands such as Firkin, Scrum or even Circle J.
Tracklist:
01. Quick March 1:27
02. Battle Cry 3:11
03. Haul Away Joe 1:41
04. Go On Home British Soldiers 2:11
05. Devil's Den (Painting Paradise Square Pt. 2) 4:04
06. 57 4:19
07. When We Come to Town 2:58
08. The Fields of Athenry 3:37
09. Swallowtail Jig 2:05
10. With Regrets 3:10
11. The Whiskey's Calling 3:10
12. Black & Blue Jig 3:07
13. Brave Yankee Boys 3:29
14. All for One 4:16
15. Old Rugged Cross 3:18
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Review by Kinksmarkham
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