Chuck Schuldiner Project

Friday, June 3, 2011

Back Through Time-Alestorm

This album, is far and away the album of the year. I don't care if Sabbath releases an album this year, it will have nothing on this piece of brilliance handed down to us from the gods of metal. This Alestorm album is ridiculous and yet the best thing ever. IT is TRUE ROCK AND ROLL! This album captures the true MAGIC of ROCK! Its not just the instruments and the vocals (both of which are great) of this album that make it true Rock but the back story of the band as well as the sheer narmyness of the lyrics. This is the first album that I have heard in a very long time that triggers a feeling of awe from me. This is Alestorm's coming of age. This album represents Alestorm becoming a real band! THIS IS ALESTORM'S TRIUMPHANT ALBUM! When you get the back story of this band you then realize how much more rock and roll they are, they are the luckiest people ever, yet they stand for what rock and roll is.
Alestorm started out small, they were going to play a show at a bar and out of sheer apathy only told a couple friends about it. When they arrived to play the show the bar was packed out the doors. Even at their first show they were loved because they represented a new and magical type of rock and roll, PIRATE METAL. They didn't even have to fight to get signed, they just sent some demo's in and got a record deal! So what makes these guys so Rock and Roll? It's their sheer attitude. Their sheer, rebellion. But lot's of bands have sheer rebellions, so they add in a new layer, they create sounds that have never been heard before, they are the most piratey of the pirate metal bands and they create an aura that is so beautiful and so magic that I am filled with AWE.
Rock and Metal have both become so stale recently you wonder what has happened, but then you get a group like Alestorm, at first they seem like a bunch of idiots, but then you listen to them and realize that they are one of the greatest things to happen to the metal scene in this millennium! They bring both raw energy and rebelliousness to a novel sound! Alestorm is the most Rock and Roll band in this millennium! No other band has cared less than them and no other band is better. You may say that they are a bunch of spoiled brats but I tell you that they are geniuses. They know that music needs something beautiful and fresh and they give it to us! People said Iggy Pop was a spoiled brat, and he was, but he also gave birth to punk. Alestorm is perfectly capable of creating a whole new direction for rock and roll!
The sound on the first 2 minutes of this album show huge evolution in the bands sound. They have finally found balance between the synthesizer and the guitar sound. On the first album the guitars were too powerful and they controlled the music too much. The second album had barely any guitar work at all. This album finds the perfect balance, this album is a beautiful combination of all that makes Alestorm great on an instrumental level. The synthesizer and the guitar find balance. This is the first album where the guitar just goes and creates metal riffs and allows the synth to do all the piratey bits. This creates an amazing feel, we finally can respect the guitarist because there is a perfect combination here.
In addition the rhythm sections is no longer holding anything back, on the last two albums there were lots of bits were the rhythm section had to hold back for extended periods of time, but now with a high powered guitar the rhythm section has become a hugely powerful and dynamic section creating an extremely powerful sound. The tempos are now ragingly fast and they give this record a lot more power than previous ones by Alestorm. Also, there are real bass fills here! It provides a bit of juxtaposition in the music and bass fills are generally just amazing.
That is not to say that Alestorm has totally left behind their old sound, there are still lots of excellent pirate bits but they are just better now that the band has found true balance and sped up the tempos. Still fans of songs like “At the end of the Age” will find something to enjoy in the song “Scraping the Barrel”. Whose lyrics declare that Alestorm will never run out of material, they will always scrape the barrel for more music. While there is much evolution on this album, the sound still respects its pirate roots but it emphasizes the best bits, sing a long choruses and sick synthesizers, with guitar licks and a pounding rhythm section.
Another thing that often stays the same are the lyrics. They are as always ridiculous and always retain their piratey flair. Often though they make me laugh at loud, they are simply brilliant. One example is on the track Midget Saw, the name says it all. It is a song about a midget, sung by a pirate. HOW DO YOU BEAT THAT? HOW DO YOU GET MORE RIDICULOUS AND MORE ROCK AND ROLL THAN A BAND THAT IS WILLING TO SING ABOUT A MIDGET STOMPING ON A MONKEY? This band lets go of it all in its lyrics, they capture the pirate magic and give the music such a, insane and disturbing beauty that I just smile in admiration at this band. I mean the song “Rum” has the chorus, “Rum Rum, Give me more Rum, Rum Rum Ahoy!”. How do you get more rock and roll than smelly rapscallions running around looking for booze?
The vocals are also some of the best that I have heard in a while. Bowes is an actor, he captures the pirate aura with his vocals. He is so rebellious and so rock and roll that you start to feel embarrassed for him, then you realize that this is his goal, and he has won. His vocals will win against you every time. He is the metal pirate king and no one will ever be able to match that. The sheer pirateyness of the vocals blows my head off every time I listen to this band and it is why they have become one of my favorites. If you have never heard Bowes sing before, go listen now, if you want to hear the best new metal vocals go listen to this album.
The point I feel obligated to get across is that Alestorm has found themselves. They have discovered their sound on this album and if they keep this sound I could listen to them for a million years and not grow weary of them. They have a lot of beautiful things and they make the best of all of them on this album. They have sing a long choruses, excellent guitar work, and a novel sound. They are some of the last true rockers, they are some of the last true innovators because they truly get the point of rock and roll. Have a unique sound and have an amazing attitude. And they have that attitude, they say to society “Screw you, we're going to do our own thing, stare if you must, but we are still going to do this!”
All in all this is an incredible band that has a most incredible sound and if you do not like them I will rip your head off and feed it to a midget. A MIDGET! They are some of the last true rockers! They are some of the last rock heroes worth worshipping because they have a novel sound and a screw you attitude! Their sound has evolved so much it is amazing. The guitar is incredible now, there are killer solos and the synthesizer gives the songs a unique feel. And now with the balance between the two of them their sound is quite easily the best in the modern metal scene. They are aided by their rhythm section which now has a much greater attack and gives the songs a lot more energy. These guys are amazing rockers and you NEED to go listen.
OVERALL 10/10

3 comments:

  1. Holy tits this is good.

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  2. Nice script. It gives me immense pleasure to come across this post. Thanks a lot for the wonderful post.

    ReplyDelete