

Dropkick Murphys became Boston's leading exporters of good-time chants by balancing their full-throated punk bacchanals with surprising subtlety. Their eighth album is full of sly, reflective storytelling: "Rose Tattoo" tucks a finely arranged portrait of loss between soaring fiddles and interlocking choruses, while "Jimmy Collins' Wake" is a jaunty yet nuanced examination of how sports can unite a fractured community. But Dropkick Murphys also know that sometimes, the best cure for melancholy is an old-fashioned shout-until-you-drop anthem like "The Boys Are Back."