When a band has put out several quality releases, their subsequent musical efforts will unfortunately be judged against those releases, rather than on their own merits. And, as much as I love Flogging Molly, their new cd just isn’t up to par with their previous offerings.
To be honest, Within A Mile of Home is good and it fits into the band’s ouevre quite well. However, when put up alongside Swagger and Drunken Lullabies, the cd suffers a bit. While there are a few standout tracks, such as “Seven Deadly Sins” and “To Youth”, nothing really hits you right between the ears like “Rebels of the Sacred Heart” or “The Likes of You Again.” The only song on Within A Mile of Home that even comes close is “Factory Girls”, and while the harmonies with guest singer Lucinda Williams are fantastic, the song sounds more akin to something off of Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road than it does a Flogging Molly original.
The sad fact of the matter is mostly that the whole cd sounds like outtakes from the two previous Flogging Molly albums- certainly, it hits all the right pennywhistle notes and Pogues-worthy points. This why the material, while passable, never really hits a strong stride- it’s more of a “Celtic-by-numbers” album than something really nifty. It’s definitely worthwhile for new fans of the Irish sound to pick up, but longtime Flogging Molly fans may feel a bit cheated.