CD Review: Alestorm - Back through time

Written by Björn Butzen Wednesday, 08 June 2011 09:25

Artist: Alestorm
Title: Back through time
Genre: Metal / Power Metal
Release Date: 3rd June 2011
Label: Napalm Records

Album Review

“We’re ready to set sail, ’though the cannons need a priming.
We’re thievin’ balladeers,
A gang of cut-throat mugs,
To fight us off, you won't need guns,
Just jolly good earplugs!
A pirate I was meant to be,
Trim the sail and roam the sea…“
(Haggis, Van Helgen and Cutthroat Bill in: The Curse of Monkey Island)

Lo and behold! The buccaneers of the Seven Seas are back to proclaim their True Scottish Pirate Metal once again with taut sails and to suck us down into the maelstrom of time! Those funny guys from Perth / Scotland capture their third ship in order to bring us ‘Back through time’. To be honest, they’re really not reinventing the wheel, but they don’t have to…! I’m pretty sure that fans of this “Rumpelkombo” (as Chris Boltenthal named them in an interview), won’t expect anything else than good old classic metal riffs and Trash Metal parts. Even that the vocals are not THAT stable as it’s meant to be doesn’t derogate the atmosphere - quite the contrary! But compared to their other releases, ‘Back through time’ has indeed some novelties. The new album seems to be a little bit rougher and more aggressive. Right from the beginning ALESTORM paint the town red and come along with hard sounds directive to Black Metal.

Especially the last song ‘Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid’ (with Ken Sorceron from ABIGAIL WILLIAMS as a guest singer) shows the development, ALESTORM go for. The whole album appears to be more courageous and aims to be more diversified while on the other hand staying safely on shore. There’s a lot of songs to bawl and bark, epic hook lines and musical surprises - what else do you need? Of course, it’s the wit of these dudes that makes up the charm. Songs like ‘Swashbuckled’ and ‘Rumpelkombo’ show that childishness and a disposedness to chaos need not to be a disadvantage for composing songs - a fortiori if you’re writing Pirate songs! So, thieves an´ beggars… haul together and hoist the colours - for ALESTORM is roaming the high seas! Heave-Ho!


Tracklist

01. Back Through Time1 Back Through Time
02. Shipwrecked
03. The Sunk'n Norwegian
04. Midget Saw
05. Buckfast Powersmash
06. Scraping The Barrel
07. Rum
08. Swashbuckled
09. Rumpelkombo
10. Barrett's Privateers
11. Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid


Line-up

Christopher Bowes – Lead vocals, keyboards
Dani Evans – Guitars
Gareth Murdock – Bass
Peter Alcorn – Drums


Website

http://www.alestorm.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/alestorm / http://www.facebook.com/alestormband


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10