Alcatraz Line up: 2018, 2023

Metal lyrics often deal with serious topics such as war, civil unrest, injustice, political views, etc. and in that sense pirate metal is a breath of fresh air. Pirate metal bands don’t take themselves or life in general too seriously and it’s all in good fun. One of the leading bands in the genre is Alestorm. They forge a clever and infectious combination of power metal and folk metal but on occasion they still like to experiment with other genres such as thrash, black and death metal. While it’s easy to dismiss the gimmick of grown men pretending to be pirates as merely silly, there’s no denying that Alestorm are actually good at what they do and their songs show more musicianship than they generally get credit for. Their latest concoction ‘Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum’ (2022) pours the same wine in the same bottle with a new label – uhm, lyrics. Once again they’ve served up the perfect party soundtrack so raise yer mugs, don yer eye patch and sing yer hearts out! Yarrr!