The Valley of the Shadow of Death is Chicago Celtic Punk

Celtic punk

Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. The genre was founded in the 1980s by The Pogues, a band of punk musicians in London who celebrated their Irish heritage. Celtic punk bands often play covers of traditional Irish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions...

 band The Tossers

The Tossers

The Tossers are a six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois. They formed in July 1993. They have toured with Murphy's Law, Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs, Clutch, Sick of it All & Mastodon. They opened for The Pogues...

' fifth studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

. It was released in 2005 on Victory Records

Victory Records

Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

 and is their first album with the label.

The title is from the Bible, Psalm 23:4

Psalm 23

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....

 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

The eighth track, "Drinking In the Day", begins with a reading

Spoken word

Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....

 of the poem "Clearing a Space", by the Irish poet Brendan Kennelly

Brendan Kennelly

Brendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...

.

Track listing

1. "Goodmornin' Da" – 1:42
2. "A Criminal of Me" – 3:44
3. "No Loot, No Booze, No Fun" – 2:58
4. "The Crock of Gold" – 6:01
5. "Late" – 3:31
6. "Out on the Road" – 2:38
7. "I've Pursued Nothing" – 4:05
8. "Drinking in the Day" – 6:53
9. "Phoenix Park" – 4:07
10. "Go Down Witch Down" – 3:14
11. "Preab San Ol" – 4:28
12. "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" – 6:38