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| Album
Review |
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Pirate metal was a novelty genre that I didn’t
see surviving very long at all, or so I thought;
Scottish lads Alestorm are the band that I feel
really brought the style into the limelight in recent
times as well as push it to the extreme. Even though
in my opinion they are the best pirate metal band
on the scene, after the release of debut album “Captain
Morgan’s Revenge” I was struggling to
see where they could take their sound next and when
follow up release “Black Sails at Midnight”
hit the stores I found myself a little disappointed,
whilst the album wasn’t bad it trailed far
behind “Captain Morgan’s Revenge”.
The thing with the debut album was that the novelty
alone was enough to ensure its success but not only
that, “Over the Sea’s” to this
day I think is the most pirate-esque song in existence
which gave it the authenticity as well, the follow
up though I feel that they just strung together
whatever resembled the pirate cliché and
some of the lyrics were pure and simply cringe worthy.
This new release though really brings the high octane
metal like never before as opener “Back Through
Time” shows opening up with some dialogue
and then fast paced technical skill leading off
into some chunky riffs, “Shipwrecked”
follows on with the same thick metal style but with
a very catchy chorus line. That seems to be the
general consensus for this album; its heavier, catchier
and more upbeat than “Black Sails at Midnight”.
“Sunk’n Norweigion” as well always
brings a smile to my face with the chorus line “One
more drink at the Sunk’n Norwegian, One more
drink before we have to die” and “Midget
Saw” which is absolutely hilarious. This album
I think is the perfect utilisation of the comical
novelty and actual technical skill, “Scraping
the Barrel” as well address people like me
who assumed they would be a one hit wonder, “Many
have told us that we can’t go on, that one
day we’ll run out of lyrics for songs, but
when the time comes to write album four, we’ll
scrape out the barrel once more” which in
all fairness is fair play to them. I have complete
faith after hearing this album though that they
will indeed keep finding themes and lyrics for songs
for years to come and if they keep the quality at
this level then there isn’t really anything
stopping them from having a very long successful
career.
4/5
Review by James Webb |
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| Band
Members |
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Gavin Harper
Tim Shaw
Doug Swierczek
Alex Tabisz
Ian Wilson |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Back Through Time
2. Shipwrecked
3. The Sunk’n Norwegian
4. Midgit Saw
5. Buckfast Powersmash
6. Scraping the Barrel
7. Rum
8. Swashbuckled
9. Rumpelkombo
10. Barrett’s Privateers
11. Death Throes of the Terrorsquid
12. I am a Cider Drinker (Bonus Track)
13. You are a Pirate (Bonus Track) |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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