Tag Archives: Sunset on the Golden Age

Music of 2014 – In No Particular Order

Hah so every jagweed and dilsnoofus is making top ten albums lists of 2014 so I’m going to try to do the same. I imagine it’ll be more like a top 7. Maybe 8.

alestorm-sunset-on-the-golden-age Alestorm – Sunset On the Golden Age: I’ve been a huge fan of Alestorm since Captain Morgan’s revenge. Their brand of pirate metal is tighter than ever on Sunset on the Golden Age, jumping from frenetic pit screamers like Wooden Leg to mellow party classics like Hangover. Chris Bowes’ vocals continue to give off a great pirate bent while still stretching his skills, and I think the addition of a second keyboardist not only fills out the sound, but allows him to focus more on the singing than the keyboarding from time to time.
D'Angelo_-_Black_Messiah_Album_Cover D’Angelo & The Vanguard – Black Messiah: Hah I write about metal here all the time, and here’s a crazy great funk album. I think I listened to it five times in a row when I first got it. Life needs more funk in it. And not just funk, good damn funk. This is it. I know plenty of butts are already moving to “Ain’t that Easy” and I can only imagine how many kids are going to be born in September because of this album.
Black_Moon_Rising_(Falconer_album)_coverart Falconer – Black Moon Rising: Man Mathias Blad has a phenomenal set of pipes. This album starts off with a blast with Locust Swarm, bringing you into all the might and majesty that you expect from a Falconer album. A healthy dose of double kick bass drums, proper balance between noodly and chunky guitars, and Blad’s vocals lilting over it all. Now if only they’d tour the US…
murder-city-devils-white-ghost-blood-on-its-hands-again-cover-art Murder City Devils – The White Ghost Has Blood on Its Hands Again: I grew up across the lake from the city and cut my teeth on plenty of Murder City Devils back in the late 90s. I even saw their first last show, Halloween 2001. These guys have put together their fare share of rock albums, and The White Ghost Has Blood on Its Hands Again takes it to a new direction. A few of the songs, like Pale Disguise, have a kind of unnerving, foreboding feel to them, gives me Nick Cave vibes.
Primus_&_The_Chocolate_Factory Primus – Primus & The Chocolate Factory: Speaking of unnerving and foreboding. Take one of the most terrifying movies of many childhoods, add in Les Claypool, and you have something that probably keeps a few adults up at night. Based on the music from the 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Primus manages to take the songs that were already creepy and add a slow crescendo of dissonance and terror, turning this into a go-to album for many halloween mixes.
DragonForce-Maximum-Overload Dragonforce – Maximum Overload: Much like Falconer, I got a little bored with Dragonforce for a bit. I think it was the singer they had or something after the original left. Anyway, they got a new singer and they have reclaimed a place in my heart! Especially with a power metal cover of Ring of Fire. That’s just great. The album has the same great key changes and codas you expect from classic Dragonforce, and the new singer does a grand job keeping up.
JudasPriestRedeemerSouls Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls: I’m not sure how a bunch of guys in their mid 60s can rock as balls out as Judas Priest do, but they manage to pull it off on Redeemer of Souls. The vocals aren’t as brutal as, say, Screaming for Vengeance or Painkiller, but you get such a solid performance from Halford no matter what octave he’s hitting. Scope out Dragonaut, and wonder if that’s a space dragon or a guy who flies around and battles on a dragon. And then get your face melted with the Halls of Valhalla!

Whattaya know, it’s seven!

Alestorm – Sunset on the Golden Age Review

alestorm-sunset-on-the-golden-ageAlestorm, those cheeky Scottish pirate metal bastards, have a new album available, Sunset on the Golden Age, picking up where they left off with Back Through Time. A lot of people expect bands to expand and do crazy stuff and whatever; I want bands to play what they like and have fun, and Sunset on the Golden Age sounds like they had a lot of fun making it.

They incorporate a lot of wind, brass, and strings into their recordings, and it gives the songs a unique feel, like tying back to their source material. I’ve heard they book live actual performers to record those parts, as opposed to using a keyboard to fill out the parts. You can also hear some funky bass lines throughout their songs, which is usually kind of counter to most metal acts.

Right off the bat, they kick you in the teeth with Walk the Plank. Big horns and big chords lead into a sick guitar intro and the kind of Alestorm that you want to hear. The chorus has a great shout to it that I’m sure will be heard far & wide when they tour to support the album. That’s one of the things I really like about Alestorm; they format their choruses so the crowd can get in the mix.

WE ARE HERE TO DRINK YOUR BEER! Man they are really apt at creating party anthems, or just the kind of stuff that will play really well live. This song also ties in a lot of their previous work, which is a good way to fill out a song. The referenced old hits on a track in Back Through Time as well, and the references are pretty well placed. Also the music video for this song is pretty awesome.

Magnetic North sounds like it has the In the Navy bass line in it. Which is pretty interesting. You can hear it during the “HEY” part after the chorus. I’m a little bummed “In the Navy” didn’t make it onto the album. I know it’s tied to a DVD of one of their tours, but I like hearing their cheeky covers in albums. And 1741 (The Battle of Cartagena) starts off with some chiptunes which is great, and then drops straight into the historical pirate battle metal that is a deep well for inspiration.

Wooden Leg! is probably my favorite track off the album. It leads with a solid bass groove, then kicks into high gear, and almost sounds a bit more like a punk or speed metal track than power metal. And clocking in at 2 minutes and change, it fits the bill quite well. I can already picture the circle pit that’ll get started when they play this live. WOODEN LEG WOODEN LEG!

Their cover of Hangover is brilliant. A buddy of mine and I didn’t know it was a cover initially, and we came to the conclusion that Katy Perry needed to turn it into a pop hit. It’s already a pop hit apparently; I’m just old and only listen to metal. Anyway, this song fits really well with the idea of being a pirate, so I’m glad the song about getting shit-faced-ed got proper respect by these great pirate metalers.

If you get the limited edition album, it comes with a second disc full of instrumental versions of their hits: Over the Seas, Nancy the Tavern Wench, Keelhauled, The Sunk’n Norwegian, and Shipwrecked. There’s also a bonus track, Questing Upon the Poop Deck, that is apparently not a song about anal sex. All the acoustic tracks are fantastic and are great at showing off the full extent of the band’s musical chops. It also makes them sound like they should be sea shanties you hear in Assassin’s Creed: I’m on a Boat.

All in all, this is yet another awesome album from Alestorm, chalk full of party anthems and songs that will be excellent to hear live. The songs have a great driving force behind them, and the backing horns and strings give added weight. Despite what they claimed in Back Through Time, Running Wild didn’t cover all the themes of pirate metal, and Alestorm hasn’t started scraping the barrel quite yet. Though I think they said quest something like 150 times. Which is pretty awesome.

Friday Morning Metal – Alestorm – DRINK

Hey there’s an Alestorm album coming out soon! It’s called Sunset on the Golden Age. I am excited for it! And a new video is out to go with their new single, Drink. It has a bit heavier sound than some of their other songs, a lot less keytarcordion than normal. True to form, the chorus is easy to remember and will be shouted at their shows for all time.

This is also the first video to feature their new additional keyboardist, who Wikipedia claims is Elliot Verron. When I saw them play at El Corazon last Novembeard, he seemed to be handling most of the duties while Christopher Bowes sang, and then provided support during keytar solos. It’s a great fit, hopefully he can bring some awesome yars and yo hos to future albums.

WE ARE HERE TO DRINK YOUR BEER!