Alestorm, those cheeky Scottish lords of the Seven Seas, have a new album out today, No Grave But the Sea. And Angry Metal Guy already gave them a 4.5 out of 5. Which seems really cool given they tend to reserve high praise like that to black and doom metal bands.

This album is rife with the same singalong and shout & response feel as previous albums, but somehow more?

The album kicks off with the title track, full of chuggy guitars, awesome keytaring, and singing about quests! And a borderline disco beat in the chorus.

I’ve already shouted about the greatness that is the tracks Alestorm and Mexico, and how they’re primed to be fan favorites when they tour. I mean who doesn’t want to shout “RUM, BEER, QUESTS AND MEAD” over and over? Because it’s fun as hell.

The songs also seem to be more complex than their earlier work. Lots of key changes and rhythms that are funkier and poppy and less just crazy metal all the time always. It’s awesome.

Treasure Island is a great closer, perfect for the pre-encore finale when they tour. Methodical for the first half then taking a frenetic turn, with a chorus that’ll be great to hear shouted throughout any venue.

It’s gotta be hard to put together a few songs that have great singalong portions to them, let alone an entire album. And yet Alestorm’s done it on almost every album they’ve released. Go listen to the album. Then listen to it again. Then listen to the dog version. Then go on a quest for mead.

Oh also the deluxe edition comes with all the songs, but the vocal tracks are replaced with dogs barking. Or borking. Either way it’s goofy and hilarious and I look forward to it showing up on jukeboxes just so I can mess with people.

P.S. Quest.