Making the leap from Brass Tacks to Epitaph offshoot Hellcat Records elicited nary a cry of “Sellout!,” but the move still raises expectations for the Boston quintet’s fourth LP. Good thing Gulf War vet, one-time Dropkick Murphys singer and ex-firefighter Mike McColgan knows how to deal with pressure; though the band only slightly advance their asphalt-bruised, Guinness-soaked sound, they further solidify their rep as mainstream old-school punks with increasingly mainstream messages.

The simple lyrical structures delivered in McColgan’s straining, nearly atonal bark are aggressively political, even if the shout-along choruses and unobtrusive rhythms hit with far less force than their more hardcore peers. Two-thirds of the mid-tempo, vaguely Celtic-tinged tracks are firmly anti-war but supportive of the troops, with the remainder serving as tributes to McColgan’s late grandmother (“Elizabeth”), uncle (“Kevin J. O’Toole”) and musical hero, Joe Strummer (“The General’s Boombox”).

While slang from both the front lines and gutter bottoms pervades, it’s the subtle introduction of bagpipes (“Kevin J. O’Toole,” the title track) and mandolin (“Two Angry Kids”), and decidedly unsubtle flamenco guitar of “San Patricios” and harmonica on acoustic closer “Free” that provide a rootsier flavor. But when a marching snare is far more interesting than Been There, Regret That tales of drugs, incarceration and violence, it’s high time to take things up a notch.

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