Metal Impressions: Alestorm's “Back Through Time”
Greetings rider fans, this is the Nightmare Rider with something a little new. As many of you may or may not know, I LOVE Heavy metal music! I listen to it every day for hours on end and it's a huge part of my life. I always expressed my love for various albums in many ways, but biggest part that I fall down on is WHY I like it. I have almost zero knowledge of musical jargon. I could tell you what the instruments are and the difference between vocals, drums and guitar, but I can barely even describe how a riff is structured, let alone tell you about different time signatures and note changes.
So now I've decided to take a different approach. Instead of reviewing the technical aspects, I will talk about how I feel about the music from a more emotional perspective. How the vocals convey the themes of the song and what pictures I see in my mind as the song progresses. This is what I love about Heavy Metal the most; It's a varied genre. You have multiple sub-genres and a myriad themes that fit into all manner of styles, all with varying intensity and emotions to convey. So I hope to share with you all my journey through Metal albums old and new to find which albums stick with me the most!
Now with out further adieu, lets get right down to the first band; Alestorm. What can you say about Alestorm? The over the top folk Power metal band who sing all about Pirates. Swashbuckling, Ale chugging, loot plundering Scottish Pirates! Ridiculous, adventurous, drunk and all round cheesy yet epic METAL. And as anyone who knows me will testify too, I LOVE cheesy Power Metal! Gamma Ray, Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Manowar, Rhapsody of Fire, I love them all! Much like a severely under-rated internet reviewer, Happy Viking (reviews up now on reviewtopia, /shameless plug), I discovered this band due to two songs; Wenches and Mead, and Leviathan. The use of the keytar sucked me in before blasting me with an epic riff while they sing about drinking with prostitutes or battling to the death against a legendary monster from the ocean depths. Needless to say, this band quickly got my hooked! Dare I say it, CAPTAIN hooked? (Ahahahaha, yes, I know that was awful).
So naturally, when I went to see them live with one of the most awesome bands in existence, Sabaton, they announced that they were to play a song from their upcoming third album. Needless to say, I was HYPED! I waited patiently for months until finally, my copy had arrived! This is the first time I had pre-ordered a special edition album. It wasn't for the pendant and it wasn't for the poster. There is a bigger reason I got the special edition box set for this album, which I will go into detail later on in this review.
But for now, enough chewing the outer crust, lets get to the real meat and potatoes in this pie of a review (I'm going to be making allot of these analogies aren't I?), as I go track by track through Alestorm's latest Pirate Adventure, “Back Through Time”!
Track 1: “Back Through Time”
We open to the sound of stormy seas with a pirate shouting “Captain, there be Vikings of the Starboard bow! GET THEM!” and with another blast of the cannons, we are off! Straight away we are blasted to a mighty flurry of guitars, as the familiar vocals of Christopher Bowes, giving the tale of his pirate crew coming across a strange device, opening a portal to the time of vikings. And in true Alestorm fashion, their ragtag crew of Pirates blast and slice their way through the vikings, all the while singing about how the sheer might of their own physical powers hold the upper hand against the faith of the viking gods. But this is no religious commentary, no, Alestorm are much to silly for that. This is an epic opener about Pirates dominating vikings, as they say at the end of each chorus, “For infamy and plunder we shall ride!”. Kicking off as they do with a massive blast before getting into the swing of things, this really gets you in the mood of whats to come. The unrelenting ego of Pirate nonsense! And if you ask me, I wouldn't have it any other way. If a song can bring a smile to my face within the first 10 seconds, it's good enough for me!
Track 2: Shipwrecked
The opener of this song proves that Alestorm are getting heavier with each album. Like with many Alestorm songs, the keytar just makes you want to get up and dance an awesome jig to their special blend of Korpikaani and Running Wild. The lyrics convey an optimistic young pirate joining his first crew. You can tell by the lyrics “With a bottle of Rum, in my hand, I dreamed of wealth and foreign lands!” that this is a Pirate with big dreams ahead of him. What could possibly go wrong? The chorus conveys exactly that! With an oddly Joyful “Hey! You're Banjaxed! Hey! You're Screwed, and Death is coming for you.” and the later lyrics of “Get drunk or die!”, you can tell that when the situation is dire, there is only one thing left to do! And that is get pissed out of your head. The tone certainly darkens as Bowes sings about how the ship strikes a hidden reef and sinks, but the way the keytars keep chirping away and the upbeat guitars ensure that the song is clear and set as goofy. And that really is the magic of Alestorm; Making a fun little single about one of the common tropes of Pirate fiction while keeping the atmosphere lighthearted and just plain fun.
Track 3: The Sunk'n Norwegian
Considering this is a song about a particular favored Tavern, I wouldn't see this song as being out of place playing just as you enter one! This is like a happy version of Nancy the Tavern Wench, lyrical theme wise. Bowes sings about how “The Landlord's a bastard, the barmaid's a whore, but give them no shit or you're straight out the door.” and exactly what kind of scallywags you can find in a place like this. Alestorm never fail to convay their love of Alchahol, and this is really a song you could just see yourself swinging back and fourth while holding up a pint with your mates at any of your favorite pubs. As the chorus “One more drink, at the Sunk'n Norwegian, one more Drink, before we have to die” conveys, even if this crew of mighty pirates should meet their end, it's all worth it if they can at least have one last mug of booze at a place they would see fit to call home. Rather than a place to drown your sorrows, this is a place to have a good time, no matter what shit life will throw at you!
Track 4: Midget Saw
This song....just wow. This is Alestorm at their sliest. A catchy riff, almost nursery rhyme esq singing rythem but with added brutal! What is this song about? It's about a Midget who kills a monkey and gets his legs sawed off......Do I really need to say any more than this? It's grotesque, it's ridiculous, but by Davy Jones' locker is it creative! This is just why I love Alestorm. They can take the must brutal and gory of pirate style corporal punishment and just make it ridiculous to the point of wanting to laugh your ass off! If you haven't figured it out by now, if you are taking Alestorm's lyrics seriously, you're doing it wrong! Short, sharp and brutal, I think the only thing left to say is to paraphrase Happy Viking “I'm buying this just to tell people 'Listen to Midget Saw!'”.
Track 5: Buckfast Powersmash
Did I mention that Alestorm love their alcohol yet? This song dives right into the rough and intense guitar riff before adding an equally quick keytar entry. When you've run out of Alchahol in Scotland, what do you do? Sail to England and find the most powerful concoction you can find! As Bowes delightfully recites, “I'm not sure what's in it, except for Caffeine, despite having drunk it, since I was a teen.” proving that it doesn't matter what goes into your drink, as long as it gets you stone faced drunk in the end, it's all good! Really, the whole setup of this song conveys the effect that this kind of drink would have on a person. Gulp it down and it hits you like a freight train, blasting you with the sheer force of “what the hell is this awesome thing?” before slowing down to a more even pace, leaving you dazed, smashed and totally loving every second of it! Kind of like Alestorm's music as a whole, don't you think?
Track 6: Scraping the Barrel
This is, in my opinion, one of the best songs on the album. Why? Because it's self referential humor! Alestorm are gimmicky band and many have said that one day, they're going to run out of songs to write. So what do they do? The chorus once again says this perfectly! “There are no more tales to be told, no more stories from battles of old. Now it seems our journey has come to an end, we are scraping the barrel my friend!” This song is the Ballad of the album, similar in pace to Nancy the Tavern Wench. But this song is made special with just how blunt and brutally honest Alestorm are about writing their music. I mentioned before that they sound like Korpikaani crossed with Running Wild. Does this make them unoriginal? This again speaks volumes for all of the band's material, in that it could so easily be cliche and uninspired, but the much like a Buckfast Powersmash, even if you have no idea what has gone into the blend (as I didn't before buying this album) you can say that this is a blend that fits perfectly! And really, Alestorm know how to write a song to be either silly or epic, so it is not just Pirate Metal, it is True SCOTTISH Pirate Metal! Running Wild may have pioneered the Pirate Metal concept and Swashbuckle may take the brutality and intensity to a whole new level, but Alestorm sit comfortably as a blend of their own. And if you ask me, I wouldn't have it any other way!
Track 7: Rum
This is the song that they played live in Manchester back in October of Last Year. In fact, I think on the 20th it will be exactly a year since I saw them. So you could consider this review an anniversary special for that concert! But anyway, back to the song. Alestorm love Rum. They go “Questing the oceans and questing the seas, searching for ultimate booze”. Rum is a fabled drink of all Pirates that gets them the most drunk and is the fuel for any epic Pirate adventure. As the pre-chorus says “Rum is the Power, Rum is the Key, Rum is the drink that will set us free!”. Need I say more?
Track 8: Swashbuckled
The Jig starts, children gather round, and Christopher Bowes is here to tell his tale of the ghastly end of three epic pirates. And indeed it is a grisly fate for all three. As such, despite what will befall these unique characters, they will all be Pirates till the end and continue to do what they do until the end of time! Here's hoping that this will be the same attitude for the band as a whole. One thing I have to ask though; What in Davy Jone's name do they mean by “Mayhaps you'll hear his deadly cry, c'mon son, buy a Honda!. At first I thought I had heard that wrong, but nope, those are the correct lyrics. Since when did Pirates promote a brand of cars? Oh well, I'm talking out of my arse half the time anyway, so I'll just accept I don't have a clue what it means.
Track 9: Rumpelkombo
1 word, three seconds of music, one big “Where the fuck did that come from”?
Track 10: Barrett's Privateers (Stan Rogers Cover)
Much like with “Wolves of the Sea” cover from their Laviathan EP, I have no idea who Stan Rogers is. For those who won't know, a Privateer was basically a Pirate hired by the government and told “Do what you want, just don't loot our ships. K Thanks”. This is the most folky song of the album, telling the tale of the last of a Captain's Privateers promised of gold, only to meet much action from the Americans across the waves. Not much really I can say about this song, the chorus is fairly catchy and it is certainly fitting of Alestorm's themes for Pirate legends. But really with this being the least silly song on the album, it didn't leave much of an impression to speak of. The same cannot be said however for...
Track 11: Death Thrones of the Terror Squid
Now THIS is what I'm talking about! “Leviathan returns to devour the world”! And It's up to Bowes and his mighty crew to face the monster once more! The build for this song is just amazing, much like the song it's fallowing up from, Leviathan, stating how much of a monstrous creature this beast really is. The chorus announces “Deathsworn, Oathbound, on a quest for vengeful slaughter, we sail to the halls of doom with a black flag raised to the sky!”. This is it, the Pirates have boasted all about their powers, stating “We've defeated Vikings, and Ninja's we have slain. The terrorsquid won't escape again!” (I LOVE that little reference there to the pop culture Pirates vs. Ninjas debate. I think you can guess who's side I'm on!). So there we have it! The stage is set, there's no turning back, it's time to nut up or shut up and take down Leviathan once and for all! “Poseidon's realm has fallen silent, THE BEAST HAS AWAKENED!” In a very Black Metal inspired section which is PERFECT for such an epic battle, we get a harsh vocal singer to convey just how epic this fight will be! This monstrous beast is even more deadly than before, but the pirates venture through undeterred! You really feel the tension as this song progresses, which gives me a PERFECT vision of the pirate ship sailing into a whirlpool, thunder crashing all around and their cannons blasting into the side of the beast, finishing it off with a final fatal blow with a harpoon. This epic comes in at nearly 8 minutes, the longest ever for an Alestorm song, but you can tell that everything is leading up to this point. In a display of metal skill they have never shown before, they know just how to use the keytars to get you in the mood for the adventure to start, then shred the hell out of their guitars for the battle it's self. Words can barely convey just how awesome this song is and it becomes a fitting conclusion for the many tales that run through this album.
That is, if you had bought the normal version. Now we get to the reason why I bought the special edition version of this album. I just had to have the bonus songs!
Track 12: I am a Cider Drinker
Now this is a folk song that fits Alestorm! They turn something blissful and uniquely rural and just make it awesome. They've done a hard work on the farm, so it's time to head to the pub and have fun! As I said before for The Sunk'n Norwegian, the chorus just makes you want to grab a few friends and dance a jig while holding a large pint if cider in your hand. This whole experience is just about having simple fun! Even when things go totally wrong and your plans for sexy time end up just falling into the duck pond, it's something we can all laugh about at the end of the day.
Track 13: You are a Pirate!
Alestorm covering Lazy Town's “You are a Pirate”. I swear everything Alestorm touches turns to gold! When I heard about this song being covered, my erection burst higher than the thought of a Pirate fighting his way up from hell with a mug full of Ale (OK, last of the Happy Viking references for this review, I promise)! This song has Alestorm's silliness written all over it and is worth the price of the album ALONE. I'm serious, I don't think they could have made this cover any better than they already do.
So this concludes my review for Alestorm's latest album “Back Through Time”. So what are my final thoughts? What I like about Alestorm, is that with each album they are building and expanding what they did before. Black Sails at Midnight was heavier and contained more fantasy elements than Captain Morgans revenge. This goes one step further by turning the silliness meter up to 11. This album has everything from battles with Vikings, Sawing off the legs of a midgets, bizzar alcoholic concoctions and battles with sea monsters! Adding to that the sheer “OMG YES!” factor of the bonus songs, this album is a real treat to listen to if you want some cheesy pirate metal fun. Granted, some of the songs can come off as a bit repetitive and many are variations on the same theme. But as Alestorm have said themselves “And when the time comes to write album four, we'll scrape the barrel once more!”. If scraping the barrel comes up with this kind of quality, then I can't wait to see what they come up with. Final Verdict; Buy this special edition! If you are a fan of Alestorm or cheesy Power metal in general, there is no reason not to get this album.
This is the Nightmare Rider, riding out!
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