ALESTORM – Back Through Time

The Scottish pirates of Alestorm have struck gold with a newly found buried treasure. Once again the crazy drunken seamen give a hell of a show with lots of ale, nonsense, pirate tales, booze, and plain fun. Their latest release, Back Through Time, has more to give than Alestorm’s previous albums — the band’s last contender, Black Sails At Midnight, proved its worth, but this present album has a better cutting edge. Moreover, this release shows the band better able to hit their intended outcomes. The track “Back Through Time” gives the sense it’s on its way to another world or another time. Then, after a massive dose of grinding drums and speeding harmonic guitars, it gives the great feeling of being kicked into the middle of a battle at sea. “Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid”, the band’s epic gift on this album, reminds of the battle against the beast from Loch Ness; a truly diverse track indeed.

This album feels as if Alestorm invested all of their might into their compositions, thus making the release more complex than their others, and also a bit more lyrically serious. “Buckfast Powersmash” is a treat for every Thrasher that might be listening. Although the track includes some fine breaks of Polka-like music, it has incredible speedy parts with a European kind of aggression. “Midget Saw” was a quite funny track, and its chorus, kind of like others on this release, was yet another drunk-fest sing-a-long.

Alestorm made sure that there will be no rest for their shipmates with Back Through Time. It’s obvious the Scottish cannons are still hot and their guns will hopefully be blazing once again in the next few years as there is much to write about and much ale to spill. Tag along maties!

Tracklist

1. Back Through Time
2. Shipwrecked
3. The Sunk’n Norwegian
4. Midget Saw
5. Buckfast Powersmash
6. Scraping the Barrel
7. Rum
8. Swashbuckled
9. Rumpelkombo
10. Barrett’s Privateers (Stan Rogers cover)
11. Death Throes of the Terrorsquid
12. I Am A Cider Drinker
13. You Are A Pirate

Lineup

Christopher Bowes – Vocals / Keyboards
Dani Evans – Guitars
Gareth Murdock – Bass
Peter Alcorn – Drums