Alestorm – Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum

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Alestorm’s new record has been on shore for a while now. I’ve heard some of the songs popping up left and right, and I’ve heard some songs live when they were touring this year. But I haven’t really dug into the album. Let’s do that and see where this seventh album 'Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum' takes us.

Opener ‘Magellan’s Expedition‘ was the first single that came out two months before the release of the album proper. It’s a more serious song with screams from keyboardist Elliot Vernon and a small violin part near the end. A heavier song as well.

A month later, ‘P.A.R.T.Y.’ got released. A real pirate party song that got a lot of views in a short amount of time. Lead singer Christopher Bowes got a bit irritated by the fact that a party song got that much more views than a serious song, while there went so much effort into the serious one. I guess the reason is that a party song gets shared a lot more through social media to show how fun it is. The people that are Alestorm fans, will appreciate the serious stuff just as much as the fun stuff, but I think it’s more specific to the genre so it get’s shared a lot less. Don’t worry Chris, we love the serious stuff too.

‘The Battle of Cape Fear River’ is a very folky sounding and very danceable song. It tells the story of the famous pirate Blackbeard in the year 1718. As proud as he was, the pirate king ended up as a pirate ghost. Which is the last sentence of this song being yelled at you.

‘Cannonball’ starts of with a little 8-bit sound before going all out. And it goes all out. Its a fast paced, interactive song that has you shouting the lyrics from the first time you hear it. When you read the lyrics, it’s about sticking a cannonball up your cunt, and then you question what you have just been yelling out loud, and then you question life, and then you play the song again and enjoy the kick ass solo near the end of the song.

‘Under Blackened Banners’ had me surprised, since it sounds like a techno dance song when it starts. But after the first 30 seconds, the melody comes in and this ‘cake to the ears’ sound comes out of your speakers. A perfect combination of fast electric guitars, melody, screams and pirates. I see this one sung along live in my head.

‘Magyarország’, no idea how to pronounce it, but the chorus helps you with it. The whole chorus is in Hungarian. Google translate helped me to understand it. Alestorms guitarist, Máté Bodor is from Hungary. This must be a tribute to him, since the chorus tells about Hungary being so beautiful and Máté being born in Budapest.

Title song ‘Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum’ is another fast one. That’s lucky number 7 for you. For once, it’s not 666 in the metal world, but 777. 7 seas, 7 seals and 7 bottles of ancient rum. That must have tasted good. Also, it’s the 7th album and the 7th song on the album. 

On Alestorms album ‘Curse of the Crystal Coconut’ that was released two years ago, there was a song called ‘Tortuga’ featuring Captain Yarrface. This album has a song called ‘Return to Tortuga’. At first I thought the songs were completely different form each other. Which they are, musically. ‘Tortuga’ on the previous album has short strums and badass rap parts in it. ‘Return to Tortuga’ is more Alestorm style, with fast guitars and much more melodic. The last is also without the collaboration with Captain Yarrface. The lyrics though, are exactly the same. That is creativity to me. The exact same lyrics, but both songs sounding so different.

“Come to Brazil” is probably the request they get the most. Even though they have actually gone to Brazil, they still get the request on almost every Instagram story they post. The song ‘Come to Brazil’ is probably prove that Alestorm has heard you, people of Brazil. And yes, if you get the deluxe version of this album, there’s an even more chaotic, acoustic version of the song.

‘Wooden Leg’ is back once again. This time we have part 3. Let me quote myself from my review of their previous album Curse of the Crystal Coconut: ‘’‘Wooden Leg’ continues after 6 years! This song was on ‘Sunset of the Golden Age’, released in 2014. ‘Wooden Leg part 2 (The Woodening)’ continues the story of the guy with a wooden leg. Part one was very fast, part two isn’t. It rocks though and it starts fast.’’

Part 3 is definitely the closer of the ‘Wooden Leg’ quest. There’s Japanese in this song, as well as Spanish and English. It’s really the song where you put your arms around the person next to you and swivel back and forth, looking back on the wooden leg and what it has brought you. A fitting song to end the album with.

REVIEW SCORE

  • Music / Songwriting 9/10
  • Vocals / Lyrics 8/10
  • Mix / Production 9/10
  • Artwork & Packaging 8/10
  • Originality 10/10
8.8

This album is so creative. There are so many different songs on this album. The core part is of course pirate metal, every song offers you that. But the different languages, the different styles like folky or power metal or 8-bit intros. ‘Seventh Rum of a Seventh‘ Rum really has it all. This is Alestorm with all the diversity they have to offer.

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