When you play such a distinguished style of music as Alestorm does, it’s quite hard to come up with new tunes for every album. At least, that’s what I think. And that’s also what made me very curious when I heard about Black Sails At Midnight. With instant pirate metal classics on their debut album, such as ‘Huntmaster’, the band raised the bar quite high for itself. But hey, good or not, this album is bound to make you have a good time anyway. Yohoho mateys!

 

Right from the start the band sets the tone for the entire album. By now I guess everybody who reads this has at least checked out Alestorm once before, so explaining what Scottish Pirate Metal exactly is, is a bit unnecessary. Think bottles of rum, cannon balls, a wooden leg, a lot of yarrr!’s and sing along choruses for out on the open sea. Yes, even the voice-overs on this promo are pirate style, which makes even them funny.

 

And funny this album sure is. It’s nothing but fun and mind you, never take Alestorm too seriously ‘cause that’s definitely gonna spoil the fun and you might just miss the point of this music at all. It is therefore a bit of a shame that the band itself seems to have forgotten about the funny pirate tunes they’re all about in the song ‘To The End Of Our Days’. This is some kind of ballad-like song but certainly doesn’t fit the album that well. Oh well, a small minor.

 

The hell with all criticism and opinions about Alestorm. This band plays music to party to and does it well. It’s not groundbreaking nor something to listen to very often. But once in a while, it sure is something that puts a smile on your face. That alone is worth a bottle of rum. Let’s set sail to the bar once again!