Customer Reviews

Black Sails at Midnight

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the production and package that Alestorm was waiting for. Having become something of a cult band, they're now faced with proving whether or not they can make a run of this thing rather than a novelty. And, in my opinion, they've done it; this cd solidifies all things pirate metal. They've ratcheted things up a bit on the metal side of things. "The Quest," "Leviathan," "That Famous Ol' Spiced," "Black Sails at Midnight," and "Chronicles of Vengeance" are all solid metal tunes. There is a much sharper hard rock edge to all of this than on the two previous collections. The songwriting is better, and the band has found newer ways to complement Bowes's keyboard work; in "The Quest," for instance, the song starts with awesome guitar riff work and then the keyboards highlight the scale progression to great effect; and then they switch, with the guitar work returning the keyboard's call. "Keelhauled," "No Quarter," and "Pirate Song" bring back a lot of the theatricality that got them noticed in the first place. But there's no better opening to a song as of this writing than the nostalgic opening of "Keelhauled"; so the theatricality is balanced with both great musicianship and metal elements. And where before you had to buy into the humor of this band to allow yourself to enjoy them, this cd is keeping the fun but adding some seriousness and maturity to the whole show. "To The End of Our Days" is a philosophical song about the pirate life and death. And if there's one guy who's making a name for himself through this whole project, it's Christopher Bowes. His musicianship with a guitar-strapped keyboard is amazing. And the production on this cd is finally excellent. That helps the band quite a bit. I was surprised that the band re-recorded two songs, "Leviathan" and "Wolves of the Sea." I'm assuming it was because of the better production and the fact that there are a lot of fans newly discovering Alestorm what with large metal festival appearances (Wacken, Bloodstock, etc.) and they wanted to give those newer fans a chance to hear two classics (it's still weird; the ep they originally appeared on is hard to find, but they`ve all been added to bonus edition of Captain Morgan's Revenge that is not hard to find). The dvd in the limited edition is priceless. You get to see these guys put on a show. There's a lot of pirate banter among the group and the crowd (a lot of mosh pitting for a pirate band, I thought; these guys get mosh pits like the big bands, somehow), but the thing that holds it together is their musicianship. Just when you think it's all "Arrrrr" call-back games between the group and audience, Christopher Bowes rips through keyboard solos like no one I've heard since Dennis DeYoung (and nobody I've heard in metal); Ian Wilson and Gareth Murdock do a bass-drum solo that's awesome. Dani Evans, cool in his dreadlocks, does the job on the guitar. I've heard better, but he's better than I first gave him credit for just listening to the cds; he comes across better live. As to packaging, we've gone from corny on the first two cds to, finally, a very cool cover. The front of the cd package is cool, but the same Captain Morgan picture is found in its full color glory on the front of the insert to much greater effect. Tired of seeing bands simply repeat pictures throughout an insert, the interior illustrations of various characters in new stances was refreshing. If you're a fan, you'll be quite pleased with this (though curious about the re-recordings); if you're new, I'll just say this is the most unique and trailblazing metal out there. It stands up folks, even with the yo-ho-hos and talk of making ba**ards and landlubbers walking the plank. Get this limited edition while you have a chance.

Captain Morgan's Revenge was an amazing album. It was fun, catchy and a refreshing change of pace for a metal fan such as myself. I never imagined any follow up album by Scottish Pirate Metal act Alestorm could touch it. I was so wrong.

Black Sails at Midnight is everything Captain Morgan's Revenge was and more. The song writing, musicianship and lyrics have all matured. Sure, some silliness returns in the form a few cheesy lyrics which are funny in their delivery and context ("The hook of our captain is looking at you. There's no Peter Pan, so what can you do?"), but the stories sung out gruffly in full pirate gusto by front man Christopher Bowes are much more interesting and less generic than the previous album. Take, for example, "Pirate Song" in which an old pirate out of his prime, drunk and surrounded by empty beer glasses, reminisces a life of pillaging, womanizing and killing, and how he wishes he could go back and do it all over again.

And if you can somehow resist singing along to the chorus of 'That Famous Ol' Spiced' ("Oh pour me a slug of it, throw me a mug of it, bring me a jug of that famous ol' spiced") my hat is off to you, because I sure as hell can't for the life of me. The same goes for the chorus of 'Keelhauled': "Keelhaul that filthy landlubber, send him down to the depths below. Make that bastard walk the plank with a bottle of rum and a Yo Ho Ho.". Brilliant fun.

If you thought the melodies and beats of Captain Morgan's Revenge were catchy you haven't heard anything yet. The guitar riffs and drumming are better than ever, and let's not forget the awesome piratey sounding keytar melodies which put those of Captain Morgan's Revenge to utter shame. I'm super impressed with this album and have been unable to stop listening to it since it found its way in my mailbox. The limited bonus edition comes packaged with a DVD featuring a FULL setlist from Wacken Open Air 2008 with surprisingly good video and sound quality and is a must have for fans of Alestorm.

Thank you Alestorm for making the music you do.

Brand new second album from Scottish folk metal band "Alestorm" , a follow up to their 2008 debut. After a handful of line up changes the band now consists of guitarist Dani Evans, Gareth Murdock on bass, drummer Ian Wilson plus founding member and bandleader Christopher Bowes on Lead vocals and keys.

Although the press labels them as Folk metal this probably comes closer to Pirate-inspired Power Metal as "Black Sails..." is nothing but full of speeding tempo and double bass drums. Still the album overall incorporates a respectable amount of folk elements such as lead violins and trumpets authentically recorded by guest musicians.

All songs are pirate tale centered with Bowes impersonating in a convincing manner the pirate singer-narrator. At the same time his keys undertake the accordion sound for the biggest part of the album delivering all the predictable but unavoidable pirate melodies one expects to hear from this sort of release. Still for a metal release some would demand more individuality on the guitar tracks. The guitars are actually heavy and consistent throughout yet for the biggest part they just accompany the keyboard parts and solos instead of being the primary source of melody for the group (still there are quite a few good if short guitar solos on this).

There are unquestionably heavier straight riff based songs on "Black Sails..." namely the title track yet the overall impression is that this is a relatively easy listener that could be even enjoyed by people outside the Power metal fan base who simply enjoy pirate stories.

On the other hand, power metal fans might find this relatively light for their taste or nowhere near the shredding medium expected from Power metal groups.

In any case "Alestorm" demonstrate a fair amount of originality and the overall atmosphere in the UK, so far, is rather encouraging towards their brand of metal.

Furthermore this particular edition of the album (Brown cover with emblem) is very good value for money as the second disc is a live DVD including the full 8 track set of the band's 2008 appearance at W.O.A. (professionally shot & recorded)

Power Play UK magazine (issue 110) marks this album with 8/10 commenting: "'Black Sails' is a very good album... buy this, go see them."

Alestorm is amazing. They have somehow managed to combined skilled musical abilities with catchy, pointless and entertaining lyrics, something that cannot always be done. Their sense of humor in dubbing themselves "True Scottish Pirate Metal" and writing only about pirates and life at sea (in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow, not realistic pirates) never ceases to amaze me.

I bought Alestorm's first album, Captain Morgan's Revenge, on recommendation from someone who saw them life, knowing that I would enjoy pirate-themed lyrics. Alestorm did not let me down, their catchy lyrics, awesome riffs, and epic soloing skills amazed me throughout the album.

Black Sails at Midnight improve upon Captain Morgan's Revenge in a lot of ways. The soloing is still their, though perhaps better, the keytar is better than ever. Perhaps the only thing I have to say about this band is Christoper Bowes, while no doubt a talented keyboardist, has perhaps the worst voice I have ever heard. No doubt, his gruff style adds to the "piratey" flavor of Alestorm, but at the same time I would prefer a more talented vocalist.

So, if you like Ale, Pirates, catchy solos and sheer stupidity in lyrical content, this album is without a doubt for you.

Scotland's Alestorm are back with their second full-length and like the first one, it's great! The folksy elements blend right in with straight-on metal and Christopher Bowes sings just like a pirate! ARRR! If you bought the Leviathan EP, you have a taste of this album as the songs Leviathan and Wolves of the Sea are here. Keelhauled and That Famous Ol' Spiced will have you singing pirate anthems in no time. Alestorm just did a video for Keelhauled too! The DVD is also worth it. You can see Alestorm perform most of their first album Captain Morgan's Revenge! A purchase doesn't get any better than this! If you like Manowar, the best elements of Skyclad and the pirate backdrop, get this!

2009's Black Sails at Midnight is the second full-length album from "True Scottish Pirate Metal" band Alestorm, and it finds the band gleefully continuing their heady mix of folk, power metal and lots and lots of pirates.

Alestorm isn't exactly the most original band on the planet. We've seen pirate-obsessed metal for years from Running Wild, and mixing power and folk metal has been done to great effect by bands like Mago de Oz and Elvenking. Still, there's something about the combination that's hard to resist. Whether it's the galloping leads, folk-driven melodies, swirling symphonic elements, the gruff vocals (which bring to mind Dropkick Murphys, oddly enough) or just the sheer fun of songs about sailing the seven seas with a cutlass in one hand and a beer in the other, it's hard not to smile and shout along to songs like "Leviathan," "Pirate Song" and of course "Wolves of the Sea."

Black Sails at Midnight is another totally fun album from Alestorm, and one that should appeal to any metal fan who doesn't take things too seriously. Fans of Elvenking, Mago de Oz, Running Wild, Fintroll and Korpiklaani in particular should definitely check this one out.

Edition Notes: The limited edition version of Black Sails at Midnight comes in a thick, slipcased digipack with a bonus DVD featuring the band's performance at the Wacken festival in 2008.

I had a Request of the Genre So here it is...

Genre: Folk Metal, Power Metal, Pirate Metal
Track Listing:
1.The Quest
2.Leviathan
3.That Famous Ol' Spiced
4.Keelhauled
5.To the End of Our Days
6.Black Sails at Midnight
7.No Quarter
8.Pirate Song
9.Chronicles of the Vengeance
10.Wolves of the Sea

When I was on YouTube I found the Alestorm Music Video Called "Keelhauled" I was looking for pirates of the caribbean funny clips and Swashbuckle Music and I sed..." Huh I wonder what this is...Ooo this looks cool, Then I find a another music vidio by Alestorm with the song "No Quarter" witch has the pirates of the caribbean song in it. This is how I got into Alestorm in the first place. So what dose this have to do with the CD Review?

I prefer This album over (captian morgans Revenge). This is an amazing album, Its heavy in the sound and has fun Pirate Music.
Most People I talked with Enjoy Captian morgans Revenge over this one. I Like this one because this album is what got me into Alestorm in the first place. I give this CD a 7 Out of 10

I bought this album a week ago, and have already listened to it at least ten times. Just amazing.

Then you will absolutely LOVE this album. I sing along in my pirate voice - to almost every song. Alestorm has outdone themselves with this one!

This pirate metal band, is the new Running Wild, his music with this powerfull energy pirate make to flow the adrenaline from my veins.

In other words I highly recommended this album for fan of piracy.

Ok the CD contains 10 songs full of piracy

The format of the album is a CD + dvd with case, and comes in digipak, excelent presentation.
The bonus dvd is an excenlente concert filmed in Wacken Open Air 2008 which consists of 7 songs.