Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge

Well, Running Wild seems to be their precursor, but that in no way makes them as distinctive or awesome as these Scottish drunkards!
Alestorm's power metal and folk metal mixture with lulzy pirate themes have struck fairly mightily, with the release of Captain Morgan's Revenge, the once named-band Battleheart, now Alestorm, became extremely popular in the eruopean folk metal scene!

The details:
1. "Over the Seas" - 3:56 (Bowes)
2. "Captain Morgan's Revenge" - 6:43 (Bowes)
3. "The Huntmaster" - 4:59 (Bowes)
4. "Nancy the Tavern Wench" - 4:53 (Bowes)
5. "Death Before the Mast" - 3:18 (Bowes/Harper/McQuade)
6. "Terror on the High Seas" - 3:52 (Bowes/Harper)
7. "Set Sail and Conquer" - 4:38 (Bowes/Harper)
8. "Of Treasure" - 2:58 (Bowes/McQuade)
9. "Wenches and Mead" - 3:42 (Bowes)
10. "Flower of Scotland" - 2:38 (Williamson)

The band:
Christopher Bowes - vocals, keyboards
Dani Evans - bassist
Gavin Harper - guitars
Micha Wagner - Drums (session)
Ian Wilson - the ACTUAL drummer

The Band NOW:
Christopher Bowes - vocals, keyboards
Dani Evans - Guitars
Gareth Murdock - Bass
Ian Wilson - drums and percussions

The review.
1.) Track one starts off incredibly strong with an epic Turisas-like intro of keyboards and guitars melding into a facemelting punch to your face! The scurvy snarls of Bowes instantly trademark Alestorm, as well as their funny usage of lyrical themes, contents, puns, rhymes, and of course, Bowes's exceptional keytaring skills. 9/10

2.) The album's power epic. It starts off with a stormy swashbuckling break attack, before going into the basic beat, with heavy folk and jig sounds! The story tells of a mutiny and a curse, and lols are to be had! The song is distinct for being more "Epic" than "funny". The bridge section is particularly one to look out for, it feels as if you were a pirate sailing in stormy waters. The tradeoff keytar/guitar solos are also an interesting feature.
Bowes also features a strongly yelled monologue after the bridge section, charismatically delivered with still the lols at heart. 11/10

3.) The Huntmaster is an amazing speed attack on the mixture of heavy folk with power metal. The keyboard arrangement on this song is particularly speedy and complex, and to think Chris Bowes sings on top of doing the synth riffs.
This song proves the potential this Scottish band has indefinitely, and is one of my personal favorites off of the album. 9.5/10

4.) The album's motivational slowballad, perhaps one of the more lulzier songs. It sounds a bit serious, but however, the fact that it used words like "H'er beauty ain't fadin'" or "At Nancy's Harbor Café" sort of rid the song of any seriousness to be had. Fortunately, that's why we love Alestorm. 8/10

5.) While in my opinion, the weakest song effort on the entire album, it still kicks quite a bit of ass. It should however add a bit more folkmelody and the riffs could use improvement. 6.5/10

6.) A brilliant improvement from track 5. The riffs are decent and the keyboard arrangements match it well! Not a recommended first song to listen to, but nonetheless! 7/10

7.) Back to perfection! Set Sail and Conquer begins with a nice gallop rhythm and arrangement, and the epic thematic is brought back once again! The lyrics aren't as lulzy either, in fact it's sort of ManOwarish with pirate themes. A great song, another solo tradeoff in the song, the chorus is incredibly powerful as well. Easy to remember, "SET SAIL". 9.5/10

8.) Of Treasure is a great filler song in between two masterful attempts. It should be slightly longer however, it needs more time to shine, however, the time it has is pretty decent in itself. 8/10

9.) The album's prime Lolfest, this song is too catchy and awesome to not remember. The lyrics are easy to fever up, and the melodies are particularly enjoyable as well. The song starts off with a strong roll intro with a power guitar lead, going straight into some tacky accordion/musette arrangement and a blastbeat as Chris Bowes talks of what he'll do after "...coming back from a mighty quest". Simple of course, he needs more Wenches, he wants more Wenches, AND MEAD! Wenches and Mead has to be their signature song as of now. 10/10

10.) This is just a beautiful, awesome, LOLfest of a cover of the Scottish national anthem. 9/10

Overall album review: 8.5/10
Not bad for the debut of a particularly minority style, it's still my favorite Pirate Metal album as of now. Hopefully "Black Sails at Midnight" can put out a bit more power and give Alestorm the 10 out of 10 they deserve!

that was an amazing review