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The title of the new album by the Dropkick Murphys, Going out in Style, may worry some into thinking this may be the band’s last album.  

However, guitarist Tim Brennan insists “We aren’t going anywhere for a while,” which is great, because the Dropkick Murphys are better than ever.

Taking the work of bands like the Dubliners and the Pogues and “kicking it up a notch,” the Dropkick Murphys have delivered an album that sports the sound fans have come to know and love.  

The band builds its songs by starting with something like a riff or lyric, and then letting it “go down the assembly line” with each member adding their own part, resulting in a fully formed song. All the work and effort this process takes has paid off, because Going out in Style is nothing short of a success.

The title track “Going out in Style” is about looking back on your life. “Take Em Down” a similar-sounding song, was released as a single in response to the Wisconsin worker protest, which makes sense because the song is a clear rallying cry for every working class citizen.  

The album isn’t all in-your-face-rock, and the Dropkick Murphys isn’t afraid to show its softer side every once in a while.  

Songs like “Cruel” and “Memorial Day” are slower songs filled to the brim with emotional energy.

In a world where punk has become a softer, almost poppy genre, it’s refreshing to hear a band bring it back to its roots, and the Celtic infusion does nothing but strengthen the sound.  

Any fan of punk, especially Celtic punk, will need to grab this album, and catch the Dropkick Murphys live on their support tour, which begins on Mar. 1 at the Fillmore Auditorium.