metal

Alestorm

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Scottish crew who turned pirate metal from a joke into a career — keytar shanties, folk-metal riffing and drinking songs delivered with total commitment.

Alestorm started life in 2004 in Perth as Battleheart, a studio project between Christopher Bowes and Gavin Harper originally meant as a straight power metal outfit. The strong response to their song "Heavy Metal Pirates" convinced the pair to commit fully to a pirate theme and fold in folk metal elements, and demos recorded in 2006 found a warm reception locally before the band started playing live that same year.

The band is fronted by Christopher Bowes, who sings and plays keytar, and their material combines folk-metal melody and power-metal speed with lyrics almost entirely concerned with pirates, sea battles and drinking. The comedy is intentional but the playing is not: the arrangements are tight, and the accordion and keyboard lines are written to be shouted back.

Signed to Napalm Records in 2007, they released Captain Morgan's Revenge the following year, produced by Lasse Lammert. Further albums followed at a steady pace: Black Sails at Midnight, Back Through Time, Sunset on the Golden Age, No Grave But the Sea, Curse of the Crystal Coconut, Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum and The Thunderfist Chronicles, alongside two live albums and six EPs.

The lineup has shifted repeatedly around Bowes over two decades, through several guitarists, bassists and drummers, and now includes bassist Gareth Murdock, drummer Peter Alcorn, keyboardist and harsh vocalist Elliot Vernon, and guitarist Máté "Bobo" Bodor. Bowes has also lent his voice as the announcer for the Pirate team in the video game Pirates, Vikings and Knights II.

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