Popes Album Release

You’d imagine that surely Shane MacGowan’s brains have melted by now - but no! Stick the mad bastard in The Popes and watch the fireworks start flying again. MacGowan is ready to meet his maker on Outlaw Heaven, a lusty barnstormer that toasts the great dead rebel-poets. Elsewhere, he lustily advises us “Don’t let the bastards grind you down!” on Bastards. When Shane’s not about, the LP is guided by the cozy and wise burr of Paul McGuinness. This isn’t just an Irish party album with fire in its belly, it’s also the most warm, celebratory and downright mortal LP you’re likely to hear in 2009.
Rick Rawlins - Clash Magazine

Shane MacGowan initially started the Popes in 1994 when The Pogues could no longer tolerate his erratic behaviour caused by his recreational pursuits, but MacGowans work ethic was never particularily focused, and though he appears on three particular tracks here (strictly in the background), the promotion of Paul McGuinness to frontman, suggests they do not need him. McGuinness is a man with Demons of his own (Drink, Drugs, Prison) and his voice, like Tom Waits in a paricularily bad mood, is compelling: the opening Black is the Colour is a vigourously ominous Sea Shanty, while much else rouses like only the very best of Irish Folk can.
Nick Duerden - Q

Bands who try to sell you their “outlaw” credentials usually turn out to be trust-fund poseurs, but Popes mainman Paul McGuinness drew on his four-month spell in Pentonville prison to write a batch of songs dripping with rage and exploding with the need to be heard. It’s a chaotic, red-blooded mix of punk, rockabilly, Celtic and country, surging to ferocious peaks in Let The Bells Ring Out or the tormented Crucified, or laying back to haunting effect in Angels Are Coming or Outlaw Heaven itself.
Adam Sweetings - Uncut

The Guardian - Our music team pick the songs or albums, old or new, they just can't turn off
THE POPES - Angels Are Coming
They are best known as Shane MacGowan's other band (now fronted by the equally gravel-voiced Paul "Mad Dog" McGuinness), and this strings-led cut from The Popes' excellent Outlaw Heaven album is what The Waterboys would have sounded like had Mike Scott sipped from the streams of whiskey. A true rough diamond.
Dave Simpson - The Guardian

The Popes, the band Shane MacGowan assembled in the early '90s after walking The Pogues' plank, would always suffer by comparison to their near-namesakes and fellow ex-pats, but comparisons are misguided. Now led by Paul 'Mad Dog' McGuinness and with a lineup bearing little resemblance to its original incarnation, theirs isn't a potty-mouthed take on Irish traditionalism - Outlaw Heaven is a rough, tough rock record. Occasionally the meaty sound offers up a little gristle - McGuinness's strident voice isn't the best vehicle for nuance and his lyrics don't quite offer the romance and poetry of MacGowan's pen - but there's no lack of fire and conviction here. After all, these are songs the chief Pope wrote while doing a stretch in HMP Pentonville ("the mother of all creativity", McGuinness notes of his alma matter). Other plusses include the reappearance of MacGowan on three numbers and the title track, which carries the distinction of being the first song to name-check all of these names and more - Bobby Sands, Robert Johnson, James Joyce, John Dillinger, and "Lord Fucking Nelson".
Nige Tassell - The Word

Is it really nine years since Holloway Boulevard? Apparently so and the intervening years have seen the death of Tommy McManamon, and Paul (Mad Dog) McGuinness spending a few months as guest of Her Majesty. Emerging from those experiences, Outlaw Heaven is big and loud but not in a last-one-in-the-bar's-a-wuss style. You might hesitate to call it thoughtful but it's close. The opening track is Black Is The Colour and you can forget Donovan and folky girls with long blonde hair; this is a McGuinness original and it starts with the biggest crashing chords you'll hear this side of Metallica. Just so you're in no doubt, that's followed by Let The Bells Ring Out and Angels Are Coming, two songs with the anthemic qualities of great rock music. Fiachra Shanks and Ben Gunnery provide banjo, mandolin and fiddle to contrast with the wild electric guitars of McGuinness and Charlie Hoskyns. Old mates Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy guest on the title track and Shane appears on three more numbers, taking the lead on the closing Loneliness Of A Long Distance Drinker. There's pain and hope on this album and some fine music.
Dai Jeffries - Rock n Reel Magazine.