Review Summary: Pull out all the stops
The story of The Scratch begins on the cobbled streets of Dublin, where about ten years ago, four friends cut their teeth as buskers. At the time, casual listeners saw them as nothing more than a spirited acoustic ensemble, completely unaware that they were former members of the metal band
Red Enemy, who had once shared the stage with mastodons like
Architects. But at some point, the musicians grew tired of heavy sound and decided to dive fully into folk.
Over time, their passion for metal began to return, resulting in distorted guitars and fierce punk aesthetics brazenly intruding into their folk sound. It was this unique hybrid, honed through endless performances, that opened doors to major stages for them and made them one of the most distinctive bands in modern Ireland. A new milestone in their ongoing evolution is
Pull Like a Dog – arguably their best and most confident work to date.
The beginning of 2026 turned out to be truly scorching for the band: they embarked on a massive tour of iconic pubs, gathering the Irish diaspora and football fans around them. These performances in tight spaces helped infuse their third album with the spirit of electrified chaos. The record became like a flash of fire: it offers no respite, hitting the listener with primal energy from the very first seconds.
Pull Like a Dog is the moment when The Scratch finally stop shying away from steel-strength power. The title track instantly plunges you into madness with jaw-dropping percussion and daring riffs. The name itself is borrowed from a phrase by Irish Olympic rowers, the O’Donovan brothers:
“Close your eyes and you pull like a dog”. It perfectly describes the determination needed to achieve a dream. Last year was turbulent for the group, with guitarist Jordan O’Leary leaving the lineup, and this motto emphasizes the remaining members’ intention not to break and to keep moving forward.
How many heavy albums do you know where a cajón is used as the primary percussion instrument? Daniel “Lango” Lang beats that wooden box like there’s no tomorrow. Partly because of this, the track
Pullin’ Teeth, driven by frantic energy, becomes infectious: starting as pure folk with acoustic picking, it gradually transforms into a heavy metal rumble complemented by simple, raw lyrics.
After this, the album plunges into borderland states. The track
Crack sets an eerie, almost hypnotic tone, where acoustic guitars lead the melody under a steady drum rhythm. Speedy fingerpicking convincingly blurs the lines between tradition and rock. At the same time, The Scratch don’t forget about weighty grooves and monumental nu-metal style riffs in the dirty and heavy
Mother of God. This heaviness is further underscored by the lyrics. Lango addresses a daughter he may never have. At the core of this appeal are reflections on the consequences of the choices we make: while peers get married, start families, and buy houses, the members of The Scratch choose total dedication to their craft.
The emotional palette of the album is impressively broad despite its general punchiness.
Pull Like a Dog gives the listener moments of breathing room in tracks like
Spacer and the piercing ballad
I Hope All Is Forgiven. The latter can catch you off guard with its ghostly beauty: Lango sings over sparse guitar chords, confronting themes of death and grief head-on.
True, the lull doesn’t last long – the ballad smoothly flows into
Horsefly, which revives the tempo once again. The album closes with
Ringsend, a slower composition where the band leans firmly back into their folk roots. It is saturated with the sounds of their ancestors, and the addition of strings gives the finale extra grandeur. This number proves to be a compelling conclusion that softly absorbs the disc’s fierce energy and draws a beautiful line under it.
Today, The Scratch are a significant part of a powerful movement in modern Irish culture alongside
Fontaines D.C.,
Kneecap, and
Sprints. These acts prefer to proudly wear all their influences and sing with a distinct Irish accent.
Pull Like a Dog is a compelling attempt to retell traditional Irish folklore through the prism of organized metal chaos, as well as proof that The Scratch still retain not only their bark, but their bite.
