Album Review: Last of the Rebels

Coming to you from Harrisburg, PA; Hold Fast adds another entry into our collection of Celtic punk to Irish folk to pirate rock. This is their second album; their was Black Irish Sons back in 2018 and we’ve been curious to see what kind of steps forward they would make. Sons was a solid album with a good deal of promise and we’re hoping not to see a sophomore slump in Rebels. 

A reminder on how we do reviews on the show. I write my thoughts here as I listen to the album; in a sense what you’re reading is a stream of thought from yours truly. I am in no way qualified to give my opinion but as the Proprietor of the Inn I do feel duty bound to do reviews of the bands, for the bands and for our listeners as well. I also don’t appear to have a set way in how I do these reviews so expect track name, thoughts, and a score. At the end the scores are averaged to get the overall rating.

Silver Shamrock: Now I’m not gonna lie, when I saw the song title I thought this was a song about Halloween 3. Sadly it isn’t, it appears to be about a bar or tattoo parlor. You know that description I put earlier about the style of music? Great example of it from vocals, lyrics and instrumentation. Solid opening number. 4

Three Can Keep a Secret: This song opens with a bit of ZZ Top flair, at least to me. It’s still very Irish Punk Rock, but that beat just takes me to ZZ Top. Now what I love about this song is you can easily interpret this song as a song about Treasure Island. This is exactly what they mean by Irish Pirate Punk. 5

Last of the Rebels: The title song of the album begins with a quaint little guitar riff taking place. There are some great lyrics going on in this, “I am the whiskey king” etc. I can see this being a big time crowd pleasure, a lot of identification in the lyrics for folks to get behind. I think it also keeps the right pace throughout. 4

Magh Meall & Tir Na Nog: Had to do some research about the title, which both are names for the Celtic Underworld, but roughly translates to Delightful Plain & Land of Youth. What I can gather is it is a song about heartache and the sea and that there is plenty of time? It’s catchy and uptempo, good moshing song. 3

Prodigal Son: We slow it down a bit here, which is appropriate in the album order. Again, struck by the lyrics, they really do seem to be coming into their own in this area. I don’t know why, maybe it’s their usual style, but I keep waiting for this song to pick up the tempo and I think it’s…not going to? It’s a fine song, with beautiful lyrics, just missing something for me. 3

Gentlemen & Rogues: To wake you back up we get some deep percussion to start us off. The guitar riffs have a funk/Maiden element to them that I am really digging. As an instrumental spacer, I am enjoying it more than I usually do. Some solid work going on here. 3

The Sails Are On Fire: The most “pirate” of the song titles I am curious to see where this goes. I think this another instance of where the lyrics will relate to a great many listeners. Not nearly as slow as Son, but there’s a darkness there that I am quite enjoying. I’m starting to wish Son had this level of tempo; and it is growing on me the further along the song we go. There is something in this song, an IT that is just catching on to me. 5

The Ballad of Joe Savery: Ya gotta have a song that starts with the pipes if you’re gonna have pipes in the band. Again lyrically a strong pirate song, but this is the song that most sounds like a Molly/Lister song; this easily could be in their repertoire. It really tells a song, as a ballad should. 4

To Davey Jones: The banjo/mandolin stands out as the song gets started and really stays strong throughout. Another lyrically great song. There are a lot of pieces going on in this one and they all fit together like a well oiled machine. The guitar riff should be out of the ordinary the way the song progresses but somehow works. 4

Brody’s Lament: Where the previous song we had the banjo/mandolin working, here it’s the accordion. It really is a testament to the band that they’re able to work in so many different instruments into all of their songs. Again, lyrically it is an impressive showing. The instrumentation can overpower the vocals here and there, but a solid showing. 4

The Erin Go Bragh Suite: The longest song on this album; I also suspect this may become a mainstay on our St Patrick’s shows if it goes the way I think it does. The most “Irish” song on the able so far as it takes that tradition of Irish folk songs and now we kick it up a notch. The song is Irish Folk for a good four minutes and then transforms into Irish Punk to modern folk; which is quite the history of Irish music. I’m not sure whether or not it is intentional, but if so, brilliant. 4

Wilde Mountain Thyme: The only traditional song on the album, but the arrangement comes from Hold Fast. Which I’m curious to see if we see any radical transformations. They don’t up the speed necessarily, but the various instrumentation gives it that feel; which is a real nice effect. I would expect this would be a big audience sing a long song. 4

Raise Your Glass: I think lyrically this is the song that most resembles what folks would expect from an Irish Punk/Rock band; that good old fashioned drinking song. The addition of the pipes to the song gives it an extra feel that other bands don’t have however. A great end of set/concert song. 4

Slan: Now this is a tough one, it’s a bit old school as it’s sort of meant to be that hidden track on an album. An acoustic version of various songs on the album. Raise Your Glass, Mag Meall, and Gentlemen & Rogues are featured here but it also brings a question of in the digital age does this work? How many are gonna not hear the entire song due to the dead air? I just don’t know, I can only speak for myself. For something like you almost need that ambience on the song so folks can expect more in it, the dead air may make folks just skip. 3

I’m not saying I had expectations for this album, more of an anticipation of what they would produced. I can happily say that they went above and beyond what I expected and it is a great example of merging genres together. Lyrically they are almost at the level of the big fish in our area and I think are going to be taking a HUGE step in their next album. That album is what I think I will have expectations for. The trajectory between Black Irish Sons to Last of the Rebels have those expectations through the roof.