Classic rock nods provide comforting familiarity - a 'We Will Rock You' Queen-stomp buffers 'Paying My Way,' while the proletarian spirit of Springsteen drifts through the entire set - plugging Dropkick into an adjacent genre that might hint at the future trajectory for the band. It is less rollicking and ferocious than prior albums - the hilarious barroom-brawl tune 'I Had a Hat' is the closest they come to old-school off-the-wall nostalgia - a tone shift that is understandable considering their collective ages and elder status as Boston's favorite house band. In fact, this release ends up being the most stylistically varied - as far as Dropkick goes - of their catalog. They do not disappoint on 11 Short Stories. At this point in their careers, the boys are experts at what they do: Pogues-meets- Rancid singalongs for working-class Southie rabble to soundtrack evenings of booze-soaked revelry and camaraderie.

On Dropkick Murphys' ninth full-length, 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory, the Boston staples smooth their edges with some restraint, delivering triumphant anthems and some surprisingly heartfelt expressions.

Best dropkick murphys albums