I admit, some of the songs on Out of the Ashes made me stir a little uncomfortably.

The news over recent years has been filled with the ongoing tug-of-war between Northern Ireland and England, with a permanent, peaceful solution to generations of strife sometimes seeming just a heartbeat away. Granted, the solution continues to elude them, but I sense that folks on both sides of the struggle are, for the most part, tired of the bloodshed and ready to see it all come to an end.

So this 11-track CD from Spirit of '16 (named for the bloody Easter Rising in Dublin) made me wince. Most of the tracks here encourage and glorify violence against the British. The photos on the front and back of the CD present masked gunmen (presumably representing the IRA) in heroic stances.

I'm not going to argue political philosophies here. I'll simply say that I'd like to see the conflict resolved without reading more tales of innocent Irish and English people dying in senseless attacks and reprisals. Now, let's listen to the music.

Spirit of '16 is a traditional/rock quartet made up of Jason Lewis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Kevin Young (vocals, drums), Frank Daly (vocals, bass) and Larry Maconaghy (vocals, keyboards, lead guitar). While they may be a bit militant for my tastes, I can't quibble with their musicianship. They certainly have enthusiasm for their music, however misplaced the intent may be.

The traditional "Sean South" is deceptively lively; the tune is jolly despite the death described in the lyrics. Next is the Bobby Sands song "Back Home in Derry," a mournful ballad reminiscent of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" but set on a prison ship bound for Australia. "Sam Song," with new lyrics over the melody of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," sings the praises of ground-to-air missiles. It's a relief when we hit "Chokin' the Chicken," a cheery instrumental by Maconaghy with no references to death, blood or misery whatsoever. But the theme returns with a massacre in "Bloody Sunday," followed by more of the same in "Joe McDonnell" and "Eyes of the IRA" (shades of "I've Been Working on the Railroad"), which gleefully threatens an explosive death to Margaret Thatcher.

"Shalackin the Shillelagh" is another hoppin' Maconaghy original blissfully free of obvious connotations of hate or death. The album closes with "Auf Wiedersehen to Crossmaglen," "Fields of Athenry" (another prison-ship song) and the traditional "Boys of the Old Brigade."

The production values of this CD aren't the best -- a little more polish would have helped, I think -- and I suspect the recording captures only a fraction of the Philadelphia-area band's live energy. Vocals and instrumentation are good, if not stellar, throughout, but I doubt I'll be listening to this loving tribute to violence very often.