Hungarian Celtic-punk giants Firkin released their ninth studio album, Kocsmadalok, to significant attention, both home and abroad.
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There was a time when Hungarian Celtic-Punk bands filled these pages so regularly that we once had Hungarian Celtic-Punk week where we featured three reviews and a Top Ten (11!) run down of the best bands from the scene. While not as prolific as it use to be the Hungarian Celtic-Punk scene still throws up regular gems like last weeks Jolly Jackers among others. Firkin have, of course, been the leaders of that scene since their formation back in 2008 in Budapest by flutist Péter János. With a history playing in Celtic Folk bands as well as working on various film and theatre soundtracks Peter wished for something of a harder edge. A Celtic-Punk band playing Irish influenced Punk with Hungarian folk creating a high-energy live music experience. Taking their name from the auld unit of measurement for alcohol (about nine gallons) they released their debut album in 2009 and Firkinful Of Beer became a golden record within a year and was nominated for the Hungarian Grammy (Fonogram).
Kocsmadalok is only the second album Firkin have released recorded entirely in Hungarian, with their familiar sound of flute led Irish folk with elements of both Hungarian Folk music and wider Folk-Punk. The albums 11 tracks run for a healthy total of 41 minutes, and features both fresh songs and reworked versions of earlier tracks, some of which were originally in English. For a scene that it’s detractors easily pigeonhole Firkin have always buckled the trend going beyond drinking songs, diving into richer stories about fallen angels, sailors’ adventures, and love, all framed within the backdrop of a live raucous pub gig. Firkin were able to release Kocsmadalok with the help of the National Cultural Fund (NKA) and incredibly was the second of two albums they released during 2024 with this one just missing out on the deadline for the London Celtic Punks Best Of 2024 awards so expect to see it feature in this years! With the album being in Hungarian and we we certainly have no objection that on the contrary we applaud it even if it makes our job as reviewers much more difficult.
Another great Firkin album and while they can’t be accused of inventing the wheel their music has always had the spirit of both Celtic-Punk and Celtic music in general coursing through it’s vein. As on of a handful of bands in the scene that is totally accessible to fans of Irish music, Celtic-Rock, Punk and Folk it’s in their live shows that the music of Firkin comes alive. We lucky to be able to host them in London a few years back on New Years Eve in a gig that has become a London Celtic Punks high point. Of the eleven tracks here two were recorded live, ‘Kék Volt Az Égbolt’ and ‘Hetedhét Székely’, and one, ‘Tündérmese’ an acoustic version of an earlier track that closes the album wonderfully. Kicking off with ‘Az Életért’ Firkin’s songs have an epic quality about them. Polished but not overly so with slower tracks like ‘Földre Hullott Angyal’ that still pack a massive punch ballads and ballads, ‘Így Vagy Szép!, butting up against more trad. Celtic-Punk songs like ‘Az Út Végén’ and ‘Az Óceán Szaga’, which takes part of it’s tune from the old Irish Folk shanty ‘Donegal Danny’, and even more Metal influenced ones like ‘A Tengerész Dala’ and the full band version of ‘Tündérmese’. The last song of the 9 studio tracks is the wonderful ‘A Fiúk Elszabadultak’, a track that combines all these elements of Firkin perfectly. The lyric video has passed 40,000 views so it seems the internet would agree. Fast and catchy and shows exactly why Firkin were awarded with a prestigious 2025 Fonogram Award for Rumini Tükör-szigeten in the category of Best Hungarian Children’s Album.
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Album Release Tour stops (click on the city name to buy tickets):
