Reviews

Street Dogs have established themselves over the past few years as one of the best live punk shows around, and with the release of their third and best full-length, Fading American Dream, in 2006, have proven themselves not too shabby on the songwriting side of things either.

Started by the original singer of Dropkick Murphys, Mike McColgan, it is no surprise the band is steeped in the Boston punk sound. Common themes found in the music of Street Dogs are union support, politics, working-class anthems, a respect for punk history and relationships, all of which are present on the band's latest (and first for Hellcat), State of Grace.

The album opens with a steady beat, followed by sporadic chords, then a kickass bassline, guitar riffs, and finally McColgan's opening verse. It is a great way to get things moving, and McColgan sounds choked-up while yelling the lyrics at 1:15 reminiscent of Against Me!'s Tom Gabel. Unfortunately, "Mean Fist" is probably the tightest track of the effort, making everything else feel a bit weaker in comparison.

There are two big changes in the band's sound on State of Grace-one arguably for the better and the other definitely for the worse. Street Dogs' sound on many songs, such as "Guns," has an almost epic-rock feel. It wouldn't (as scary as this sounds to someone that wants to see the band in small clubs) be unreasonable to picture this stuff performed on an arena stage and hold up next to classic rock material by the likes of AC/DC. The guitar riffs of Marcus Hollar and Tobe Bean III are really that good, making some of these songs as catchy as they are rockin'.

The bummer of this epic sound is that it detracts from the street punk anthem feel that has driven the band over the last three albums. In the same respect, while writing a few songs that stand out above and beyond anything the band has done in the past, the overall tone and raw passion of Fading American Dream are not present here in the same capacity. And for each outstanding track, there is another not-so special. The slower tunes, "Elizabeth" and "State of Grace," don't have the same lasting effect of other tracks.

Still, while Street Dogs fail to capture the energy of their previous album with State of Grace, it is a hell of an effort with a working class/union tune ("Rebel Song"), political anthem ("San Patricios"), punk-rock history homage ("The General's Boombox," about Joe Strummer) and even a few personal songs, such as "Free." Street Dogs are a great band, and State of Grace is a solid album, but the band has offered better in the past.