For a band with such a defined style as Dropkick Murphys, it must be hard to stick to the sound for which you’re loved without feeling like you’ve become a gimmick or a parody of yourself. In this sense, progression is essential, but how far can you move away from yourself without abandoning this sound entirely? Heavy.      
 
The first major difference in ‘The Meanest Of Times’ is the traditional instruments have really been toned down and the folk influence moved aside slightly in favour of a more punk sounding record. There are still some roaring Celtic style songs on here, opener Famous For Nothing showing us these guys are still repping the fighting Irish spirit. (Apart from the country and western sounding guitar lead at the start, which is just fucking weird and I’m not sure what they were trying to do, but it still sounds ok.)  
And the re-arranged traditional (F)Lannigan’s Ball is a blinder, even pulling on board Spider Stacey of The Pogues and the man himself, Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners, for some guest vocal spots*.  
 
But I found listening to this disc, in a lot of areas it’s almost as if it were written as a punk rock record, and the other instruments were just left to play over the top of what was there, meaning everything is in its place, but at the same time it seems to lack a lot of heart in places.  
 
Ironically, the straight up punk songs on here are actually rad, I’ll Begin Again and Shattered are tough as nails and catchy as chlamydia, and possibly indicative of the band’s attempts at trying not to fall into a guiness-filled rut. That said, everything these guys have done has been doused in a healthy pint of punk, they just seem so much more preoccupied with it here, but I’m probably wrong.