Everyone has a musical guilty pleasure: for some, it is cheesy pop hits, for others it may be hits from the musicals... for me it is pirate metal.
I remember when I first heard Alestorm: I was sitting in a bass lesson when my teacher put on 'Keelhauled': I was creased up laughing for the duration of the lesson, not quite believing what I had just heard. The artistic approach to metal had well and truly left me speechless, confused and highly entertained.
I was so intrigued by what I had heard, it soon became the anthem of the car, yelling 'yo ho ho' with the window down at every possible point in the song: needless to say that car journeys with me became very interesting very quickly. Despite the initial shock of the genre, I was fascinated and began to delve deeper into the depths of the pirate metal sea... and I found some treasure.
Their numerous albums are track after track of Jack Sparrow meets Brian May, Captain Hook meets Slipknot, and a whole array of other apparent combinations that really shouldn't work... but they do. The narrative nature of the songs combined with their metal essence creates an enchanting and unique sound.
I watched their Bloodstock 2018 set on YouTube and the whole thing (including the giant rubber duck) was absolutely priceless: I was genuinely amazed by their talent and stage presence... not to mention the surprise visit from another pirate and their personalised kilt and shorts. The whole thing was an hour of odd yet incredibly enjoyable madness which has made me desperate to see them live.
On top of this, I also ended up in tears of laughter recently upon the discovery that I can safely say this band really are something everyone can be entertained by... after finding dog versions of their songs on the deluxe edition of 'No Grave But The Sea'. I have no words anymore for the sheer craziness, creativeness and talent of these musicians: there is always a new surprise or something to put a smile on my face (and now my dog's too).
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