Review Summary: Alestorm doing what Alestorm do...
Alestorm are a folk/power metal band formed in good ol' bonnie Scotland, where I was born and raised.
After many albums and countless tours, which came with incredible and hilarious live performances which I have had the pleasure of witnessing, the lads are back to give us more as they put it "bacon powered pirate-core" and with such anthems as "Keelhauled", "Drink" and a cover of Scotland's national anthem "Flower of Scotland", they mean business, incredibly silly, not to be taken seriously business.
After an 8-bit intro, the second track "Mexico" kicks up the party with catchy riffs and a sing along chorus
"Yo ho Mexico
Far to the south where the cactus grow
Tequila and a donkey show
Mexico, Mexico
Yo ho Mexico
Far to the south where the cactus grow
Take me away from the ice and the snow
Lets go to Mexico"
A lot of the songs in the recent studio output of the band have had a drinking, party anthem vibe, needless to say there are some serious songs on this album, or atleast serious for Alestorm.
"Man The Pumps", my personal favourite on the album is epic, telling the story of a lone ship hand doing his duty in extreme conditions. Of course Alestorm's silliness is there, but the end of the song gets especially dark as we hear soft acoustic guitar, the end of the ship hand who died doing his duty.
"***ed with an Anchor" which is definitely not a parody of the hit Cannibal Corpse track, starts with an acoustic intro before bursting into a *** fest of ***s, cunts, balls and wankers. Literally, that's the whole song, and whilst the intro caught me off guard, its pretty funny. I mean it opens with
"*** you
You're a ***ing wanker
We're going to punch you right in the balls
*** you
With a ***ing anchor
You're all cunts so *** you all"
So don't expect anything serious. I think if they had made it into a pseudo death metal track, it would have been better sounding and a closer parody to the CC song.
On the deluxe edition, you get a bonus track "Treasure Island" which is nothing special, but not bad in anyway and all 10 tracks with the vocals replaced by dog barking. I wish I was joking, but its not real dog barks, just a synth. Had they actually used real dog barks, that would be, well weird but also pretty cool.
I'd also be sure to check out the music videos for "Alestorm" "Mexico" and the previously mentioned "***ed with an Anchor", if you like midgets, explosions, donkeys and sombreros, you'll love it.
As seen, the band don't take themselves seriously, for example on the music video for FWAA, Chris commented
"This is rude and sweary, I'm telling on you Alestorm!"
Even if you don't like the band, check their social media for some laughs.
(Running Wild fans, unless you like jokes and stupidity, don't listen, you'll only get mad)
