Review Summary: They are musical pirates. YYYAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
“So, here are these 4 guys who call themselves: “Alestorm”.
-“They do not look like pirates.”
-“Who cares? They ARR pirates.”
-“Why should they be?”
-“Well, they are musical pirates.”
-“So, what does these musicians make pirates?”
-“Their music of course.”
-*facepalm*
-“Well, listen to their music and you will see. Start playing, yer bloody idiots!”
-“Yarr!”
That might be the possible story of Alestorm, the infamous pirate metal band, as they call it.
Alestorm is a drunk Scottish band, and well known for their own brand of metal.
Their album Captain Morgan’s Revenge was accually one of my first metal albums.
I listened to Iron Maiden and Rush before, but I did not consider them metal.
So, when a friend of mine at school said: “I know a band named Alestorm, that is a pirate metal band.” I thought: Well, that seems interesting, but I never listened to metal before. A few days later, when we were doing something with the school band, showing our favorite music to everyone, he showed me the first 2 songs of this album. When the first notes started, I immediately liked it, and it was my doorway into metal. Later, when I was home, I immediately downloaded the album, and listened it all the time in the weekend when I was at a camp with some friends. The epic tunes and the drunk stories never faded, and about a few months later I downloaded their other albums.
I compared them, and everytime I downloaded a new Alestorm album, the new songs stayed into my head. While I compared them, my final thoughts were that Captain Morgan’s Revenge was still my favorite album, mainly because of the nostalgic feel to it, andthe more original and technical songwriting. There still are many good tracks on the other albums however, but Captain Morgan’s Revenge is more well rounded, with more variation, and thrashier guitars.
The tracks all have their own feel, for example: Over the Seas is a nice, simple, singalong pirate story, while The Huntmaster is a catchy headbanger about a guy who needs to bring back beer to the world. Overall, these things stay pirate songs, with an epic “Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack” brass section, and catchy folk tunes, and also the Scottish “anthem” Flower of Scotland.
However, this is really a like or hate thing. A friend of mine hates pirate-themed metal more than Christian metal. The problem is that pirate metal is mostly not taken seriously, and I understand that.
The music seems great to me, but the themes are of course a little childish.
Well, I really don’t care. I like pirates, mate. And there are some less good songs on this album, but the fun theme and the catchiness of the songs makes it all right.
And of course, the album is not perfect, but it doesn’t have to be perfect to give a perfect feeling.
If you don’t like pirates, forget the pirate part and just listen to the music, and most importantly:
don’t grow up too soon. Live the way you want to live, and forget all the rules for one time.
BE A PIRATE!
Pros:
+ Catchy
+ Good for headbanging
+ The magical combo of this two
+ Epic
+ PIRATESSSSS!!!!
Cons:
- 5 and 6 are less epic
- Love or hate thing
Rating: 5 out of 5
