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Dogrel is the debut studio album by Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C. The album was nominated for Album of The Year at the Choice Music Prize and Mercury Prize in 2019. Upon its release, Dogrel received universal acclaim from contemporary music critics. On review aggregator website Metacritic, Dogrel has an average weighted rating of 86 out of 100 indicating "universal acclaim" based on 17 critics' reviews. Ben Beaumont-Thomas, writing for The Guardian, praised the lyricism of the album, stating that "this is the kind of songwriting quality that bands can take years to reach, or never reach at all: brilliant, top to bottom." Tom Connock of NME stated that "the Irish troubadours come good on a debut album that offers both a storyteller's narrative voice and a snarling new vision of youthful disillusionment." Writing for Pitchfork, Stuart Berman contrasted both the band and record to contemporary British post-punk outfits, IDLES and Shame, saying that "Fontaines D.C. are fueled by neither IDLES' revolutionary fervor nor Shame's festering disgust. They're not raging against the current state of affairs as much as lamenting the local communities and culture in danger of being steamrolled by the march of modernity." He went on to comment that "their origin story is so quaint and anachronistic, it verges on flaneur cosplay, with the quintet reportedly bonding over a mutual love of Joycean poetry and pub nights spent scribbling out and reciting verses to one another. That old-school approach finds its analog in a raw, robust twin-guitar attack that's more jangly than jagged, nodding to ‘60s garage, surf, and early rock‘n’roll while projecting a confrontational fury. As such, Fontaines D.C. are very much a post-punk band reclaiming a certain pre-punk innocence."
One of most inventive debut albums in recent times. They have become a bit predictable since then, but this one sounded so new and so cool
I haven’t listened in a long time and was happily surprised at how well an already great album aged. Love the TS Eliot reference in Too Real. Thanks for adding.
Great album by a great band
This really grew on me over the course of the album. I think it was Roy's Tune that really got me. It's what I like about most Irish punk/post-punk - the emotion, the authenticity, the plaintiveness, the simple beauty. 4 stars.
I was skeptical of another post-punk, but the Dubliner grit added a little something that elevates the record.
The Irish Protomartyr.
7/10. Worth a relisten when I've got time to appreciate the songwriting. This run through all I really got out of this was that they were Irish and they sounded pretty good
Energy.
Nice and unique style. Good album
Gotta love that thick Irish accent! I know I do. Although this isn't their strongest album (I like the two that came after even more) this debut album already showed the signs of what was to come next.
Post punk
Dogrel's city is one colder and more lively than the one I'm used to; Should be a winner. The vocal attack owes much to punk, and proceeds in jagged time over the more complicated, less repetitive instruments. The album soundtracks a journey, not as compelling as, say, the Arctic Monkeys, but more honest and less drenched in nostalgia.
It has a couple very solid tracks and overall is a very enjoyable record, I see why some people would fall in love with this. But for me, it's having a hard time standing out from the crowd, both its contemporaries and the 2000's post punk revivalists it draws from.
It's like a post-punk Bloc Party. Not bad at all. Fun structures, almost moves closer to punk than post-punk for me, really. I want it to be a little bit more raw like older post-punk a la Talking Heads, The Fall, etc. Idk just a bit more clean than I would like, but not bad at all.
Interesting indie sound
Post-punk hit a whole lotta years before 2019 and I'm not sure this is bringing anything much new to the table. The music was decent, the lyrics interesting, but I had a hard time getting past the vocals - that nearly monotone UK Oy Oy Oy yawp.
Dogrel is a cool name
Hmmm 3
I have a bad habit of getting super into an artist's recent releases without checking out the rest of their discography. Case in point, 'Skinty Fia' was one of my 2022 albums of the year, but I didn't even bother to listen to the rest of Fontaines D.C.'s albums. Glad this came up, then, as it was great to hear the band in a more exploratory, rock-focused period in their nascent years. The basis of each track is solid modern rock, but there's a certain (and now characteristic) bleak energy the band manages to infuse that makes it feel as if they're accepting the end of the world with a shrug. Maybe it's Grian Chatten's deadpan delivery, or the tight, almost post-punk guitar lines, but in any case, it's a niche that Fontaines have clearly carved for themselves and one they continue to solely occupy. Coupled with the slightly gritty production and constant (but not overwhelming) use of reverb, there's a real sense of space and occupancy that gives this LP a genuine feeling of being lived in day in and day out. Always wild to hear bands burst onto the scene nearly fully formed, and while not every track hits (and there is a certain sense of tonal exhaustion by the end), this was a great listen to understand where the band has built from.
I was surprised that this post-punk record came out in 2019, it sounds more like something you would hear in the 80s or 90s. It doesn't really do much for me though
This sure was an album I listened to
Well, I hear this band a lot on various radiostations. But it is just not for me. Too British and the vocals annoy me just too much.
Would have been higher but that accent is appalling
The music is neither here nor there, but I had an instant negative reaction to that voice. So much so that the music started annoying me too. 1/5 terrible. (Sorry bud, I know you probably love it and hope everyone else does too. But yeesh)