There are only a few bands whose albums I will buy without actually hearing something on them first. Flogging Molly used to be one of those bands. Not anymore. Within a Mile of Home was a huge disappointment. Since when is it cool for rock bands to “feature” people on their albums, like Flogging Molly does twice on this one? I thought only thugged out rappers featured other artists on their albums. Hmmmm…I guess not. Did the members of Flogging Molly change skin color and genre over night? The songs on this album just suck. There are too many slow ones that just drag the album down. If I wanted to listen to a bad singer croon out Irish folksongs, I’d go buy some crappy Irish folk music. There are only one or two songs on here worthy of being called punk rock. The rest, I think my mom would enjoy listening to. I could go on and on, but I refuse to waste any more of my time reviewing this sorry excuse for music. I know you hardcore fans out there will still buy it, but just don’t expect too much. Meanwhile, I’ll be out looking for a decent album to buy.
I LOVE Flogging Molly. I’ve seen them 3 times and I have all of their albums. Which is why it pains me that I must say that this album is extremely mediocre.
I only really like about 5 songs out of the 15 on it. There are no love songs on it at all. Maybe there are some elements of romance on some of them, but nothing like “May the Living Be Dead in Our Wake” or “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”.
The songs don’t have any of the same type of storytelling as in the other albums. There is nothing on it like “Killer Kilbain kicked me senseless everyday/ I hope that bastard is beneath a head of stone.” or anything even remotely resembling the pesonal account type of poetry that’s in Black Friday Rule. Well, maybe on Tobacco Island…
The thing that annoys me the most: Only 5 of the songs sound like Irish songs. The rest sounds like regular rock with extra instruments (which is why I always liked F.M. better than Dropkick Murphys, F.M. actually sounds Irish). One of the 5 Irish sounding songs is an achapella song that is only 30 seconds long, so really its only 4 of the 15 songs that sound Irish because one is really more of a sound bite than a song.
2 songs on the album have “guest vocalists”, and neither one of them can sing to save their lives.
I’m not a fan of Spoken Wheel/With a Wonder and a Wild Desire. It sounds like it took them 5 minutes to write the melody, it’s not complex at all. The lyrics are alright, but the music is dull. Actually, most of the songs have no melody. If you sang them with no music they would have very little fluctuation, and there is no ornamentation at all, except on a couple songs.
Basically, the whole album is okay. It’s not unique to Flogging Molly at all. If it was another band, it would be a great album, but it’s nothing compared to Drunken Lullabyes or Swagger. Here’s the annotated track listing:
1 – Screaming at the Wailing Wall – Irish sounding, hate the lyrics. They sold out because they felt they had to write a song about Bush, which is total trendy cliche punkvoter promotional crap if you ask me. It also completely dates their music. No one’s gonna care in 10 years.
2 – Seven Deadly Sins – Good ol’ Flogging Molly. I actually liked this one.
3 – Factory Girls – Not Irish sounding at all. Lucinda Williams has no business singing here. Okay song.
4 – To Youth – It’s not bad, but not terribly exciting. It kind of sounds Irish.
5 – Whistles the Wind – It’s okay. Kind of boring though. Not Irish.
6 – Light of a Fading Star – Good song. Not Irish, but a really good song.
7 – Tobacco Island – Good ol’ Flogging Molly. Totally Irish.
8 – Wrong Company – Achapella. Totally Irish, totally F.M.
9 – Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon – Good song, not Irish. Would be better if someone else did it.
10 – Queen Anne’s Revenge – sucks ass
11 – Wanderlust – Okay song, not Irish.
12 – Within a Mile of Home – Don’t really like it much. It’s okay. Not very Irish
13 – Spoken Wheel – Lame. Not Irish
14 – With a Wonder and a Wild Desire – Lame. Not Irish.
15 – Don’t Let Me Die Still Wondering – Boring. Not Irish.
I started listening to F.M. because they mixed Irish music with punk, they were unique. Now their just like everyone else.
I thought I’d love this album since I like a lot of music and everyone raves about Flogging Molly, but really I found it pretty lacking in appeal. I didn’t care for the singer too much and the vibes just weren’t my style apparently. I’d recommend the Dropkick Murphys a lot more than this band.
Rating: 2 / 5
Those who truly appreciated Flogging Molly’s previous offers will find themselves disappointed after listening to Within a Mile of Home. Flogging Molly has moved away from their fast-paced whiskey drinking fighting music and into the world of pop. While this album has one or two tracks reminescent of Flogging Molly’s younger days (Seven Drunken Sins), the majority of these new songs are soft and have little energy to them.
The album starts off with Screaming at the Wailing Wall, a commentary on the current state of US politics that clashes with the Irish sound of the music. It then launches into Seven Drunken Sins, a song that brings to mind pubs with blood and beer a foot deep on the floor. With the third track, Factory Girls, Dave King abandons the Irish sound that defines Flogging Molly almost completely, and essentially pretends he’s singing a country song.
The album only goes downhill from there, although there are some salveagable tracks. Like many bands, Flogging Molly has tried to cross genres, and like many bands, they have alienated fans in the process. It is, as always, sad to see another great band lost to pop culture.
Rating: 2 / 5
There are only a few bands whose albums I will buy without actually hearing something on them first. Flogging Molly used to be one of those bands. Not anymore. Within a Mile of Home was a huge disappointment. Since when is it cool for rock bands to “feature” people on their albums, like Flogging Molly does twice on this one? I thought only thugged out rappers featured other artists on their albums. Hmmmm…I guess not. Did the members of Flogging Molly change skin color and genre over night? The songs on this album just suck. There are too many slow ones that just drag the album down. If I wanted to listen to a bad singer croon out Irish folksongs, I’d go buy some crappy Irish folk music. There are only one or two songs on here worthy of being called punk rock. The rest, I think my mom would enjoy listening to. I could go on and on, but I refuse to waste any more of my time reviewing this sorry excuse for music. I know you hardcore fans out there will still buy it, but just don’t expect too much. Meanwhile, I’ll be out looking for a decent album to buy.
Rating: 2 / 5
I LOVE Flogging Molly. I’ve seen them 3 times and I have all of their albums. Which is why it pains me that I must say that this album is extremely mediocre.
I only really like about 5 songs out of the 15 on it. There are no love songs on it at all. Maybe there are some elements of romance on some of them, but nothing like “May the Living Be Dead in Our Wake” or “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”.
The songs don’t have any of the same type of storytelling as in the other albums. There is nothing on it like “Killer Kilbain kicked me senseless everyday/ I hope that bastard is beneath a head of stone.” or anything even remotely resembling the pesonal account type of poetry that’s in Black Friday Rule. Well, maybe on Tobacco Island…
The thing that annoys me the most: Only 5 of the songs sound like Irish songs. The rest sounds like regular rock with extra instruments (which is why I always liked F.M. better than Dropkick Murphys, F.M. actually sounds Irish). One of the 5 Irish sounding songs is an achapella song that is only 30 seconds long, so really its only 4 of the 15 songs that sound Irish because one is really more of a sound bite than a song.
2 songs on the album have “guest vocalists”, and neither one of them can sing to save their lives.
I’m not a fan of Spoken Wheel/With a Wonder and a Wild Desire. It sounds like it took them 5 minutes to write the melody, it’s not complex at all. The lyrics are alright, but the music is dull. Actually, most of the songs have no melody. If you sang them with no music they would have very little fluctuation, and there is no ornamentation at all, except on a couple songs.
Basically, the whole album is okay. It’s not unique to Flogging Molly at all. If it was another band, it would be a great album, but it’s nothing compared to Drunken Lullabyes or Swagger. Here’s the annotated track listing:
1 – Screaming at the Wailing Wall – Irish sounding, hate the lyrics. They sold out because they felt they had to write a song about Bush, which is total trendy cliche punkvoter promotional crap if you ask me. It also completely dates their music. No one’s gonna care in 10 years.
2 – Seven Deadly Sins – Good ol’ Flogging Molly. I actually liked this one.
3 – Factory Girls – Not Irish sounding at all. Lucinda Williams has no business singing here. Okay song.
4 – To Youth – It’s not bad, but not terribly exciting. It kind of sounds Irish.
5 – Whistles the Wind – It’s okay. Kind of boring though. Not Irish.
6 – Light of a Fading Star – Good song. Not Irish, but a really good song.
7 – Tobacco Island – Good ol’ Flogging Molly. Totally Irish.
8 – Wrong Company – Achapella. Totally Irish, totally F.M.
9 – Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon – Good song, not Irish. Would be better if someone else did it.
10 – Queen Anne’s Revenge – sucks ass
11 – Wanderlust – Okay song, not Irish.
12 – Within a Mile of Home – Don’t really like it much. It’s okay. Not very Irish
13 – Spoken Wheel – Lame. Not Irish
14 – With a Wonder and a Wild Desire – Lame. Not Irish.
15 – Don’t Let Me Die Still Wondering – Boring. Not Irish.
I started listening to F.M. because they mixed Irish music with punk, they were unique. Now their just like everyone else.
I hope this is only a phase!
Rating: 3 / 5
I thought I’d love this album since I like a lot of music and everyone raves about Flogging Molly, but really I found it pretty lacking in appeal. I didn’t care for the singer too much and the vibes just weren’t my style apparently. I’d recommend the Dropkick Murphys a lot more than this band.
Rating: 2 / 5
Those who truly appreciated Flogging Molly’s previous offers will find themselves disappointed after listening to Within a Mile of Home. Flogging Molly has moved away from their fast-paced whiskey drinking fighting music and into the world of pop. While this album has one or two tracks reminescent of Flogging Molly’s younger days (Seven Drunken Sins), the majority of these new songs are soft and have little energy to them.
The album starts off with Screaming at the Wailing Wall, a commentary on the current state of US politics that clashes with the Irish sound of the music. It then launches into Seven Drunken Sins, a song that brings to mind pubs with blood and beer a foot deep on the floor. With the third track, Factory Girls, Dave King abandons the Irish sound that defines Flogging Molly almost completely, and essentially pretends he’s singing a country song.
The album only goes downhill from there, although there are some salveagable tracks. Like many bands, Flogging Molly has tried to cross genres, and like many bands, they have alienated fans in the process. It is, as always, sad to see another great band lost to pop culture.
Rating: 2 / 5
well this is a bit different than the first two molly cds more slow songs not as many fast ones but it is still good
Rating: 5 / 5