For those that don’t know what the Music Challenge is I will tell you.  Go out and pick up an album or stream an album based solely off one of three categories…1) Album Cover, 2) Band Name or 3) Album Name.  Once you have listened to one, come tell me about it. My 6th pick is Alestorm and I chose it off the cover and the band name…here are my thoughts on it…(Parental Guidance is suggested…if foul language offends you than go read another post)

All my life, I have felt that something was missing.  I didn’t know what it was and have struggled with it my whole life.  Well that struggle is no more.  The thing that was missing from it was PIRATE HEAVY METAL!!!  Heavy Metal music with a pirate theme!! How have I never thought of that before.  Thank God I found Alestorm to fill that hole missing in my life all this time.

The timing couldn’t be better with the release of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie “Dead Men Tell No Tales”.  Now I have a pirate movie and pirate music to go along with it!  This is Alestorm’s fifth studio album and it is called ‘No Grave But the Sea’.  I seriously thought this was just a novelty album, but nope…it is for real and they have now stuck with the pirate theme for 5 albums.

I have to admit, the album is actually a lot of fun.  Although the pirate theme does get a little tiresome, there are some pretty amazing songs on here.  The songs really do talk about living a pirate life…drinking, pillaging, drinking, partying, drinking and you get the idea.  The album is really heavy as it swings from Thrash Metal to Power Metal to Folk Metal and basically it is Metal.

One of my favorite songs is “Mexico”.  It is such a fun song and lyrically amazing.  It is metal with a Scottish sounding violin throughout played on a Keytar.  Here are part of the lyrics for the chorus:

“Yo ho Mexico
Far to the south where the cactus grow
Tequila and a donkey show
Mexico, Mexico”

Now I am really curious what is a “donkey show”.  Mix that with pirates and that makes me nervous for the donkey.  Was the “Ass” sore afterwards???

And then the absolute best song on the album that gets you in a good fighting mood is “Fucked By An Anchor”.  Again, the lyrics are so inspiring I want to punch someone in the balls…check it out…

“Fuck! You! You’re a fucking wanker
We’re going to punch you right in the balls
Fuck! You! With a fucking anchor
You’re all cunts so fuck you all”

Now joking aside, musically I really enjoyed the songs.  I would catch myself singing along and some of the songs got better on repeat listens.  I enjoyed the epic “To the End of the World” and “Man the Pumps”.  For me, it is a novelty album and I am not sure how many repeat listens it will get.  I do know if I find myself really trashed at a pub, tavern or bar, I will get the bartender to play this album and we can all have a pirate singalong.

Track Listing:

1. “No Grave but the Sea”
2. “Mexico”
3. “To the End of the World”
4. “Alestorm”
5. “Bar und Imbiss”
6. “Fucked with an Anchor”
7. “Pegleg Potion”
8. “Man the Pumps”
9. “Rage of the Pentahook”
10. “Treasure Island”

To top it all off, the Deluxe Edition gives you the same 10 songs again; however, they have an entirely new twist.  Instead of Christopher Bowes singing, you get a dog.  That is right…a dog.  All 10 songs done again with a dog singing.  And for that, I will let you know what my dog thought of the songs.

I called in my dog, Bear, to give the songs a listen.   This is Bear.  He is an Australian Shepherd if you are interested…He already looks skeptical about why I am calling him into my office…

I play him some of the songs and he gets all excited and runs out of the room.  I go upstairs and this is what I find…

I would say he liked it.