ALESTORM — Back Through Time (review)

ALESTORM — Back Through Time album cover

Album · 2011 · Folk Metal

4.5/5 · 2011-06-05
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Back Through Time is the third album from pirate themed folk/power metal band Alestorm, released in 2011. Alestorm have caused a bit of a stir in the past, particular with their 2008 debut Captain Morgan’s Revenge due to the association with so called ‘pirate metal’. Back then my voice was one of the one’s in support of them and the genre and while I wouldn’t say I am in support of the term itself these days, I still hold that out of all so called bands, Alestorm is the only one who gives it any sort of credibility, although when it boils down to it they’re a folk metal act, and the pirate metal term is as much a misnomer as ‘viking metal’ or ‘djent’. The question I was facing when it came to reviewing the band’s third effort though is if they could silence their critics and continue to produce some top quality folk/power metal that retains the element that makes Alestorm great, that element being the comedic value, obviously.

In short yes they can, in fact they do it pretty good style on one track in particular, the aptly titled Scraping the Barrel. Written with seemingly no other intent than to answer those critics in true Alestorm style, namely by telling them if they don’t like it to start their own band, and quoting their critics favourite lines such as ‘Running Wild did it back in ‘84’, the song seems to be good natured acknowledgement that they are something of a one trick pony.

Or are they? Back Through Time does actually break new ground for Alestorm. Not much, but enough to raise some eyebrows and even make their established fans sit up and wonder what in the seven seas is going on. I’m of course referring to the epic closing track, Death Throes of the Terrorsquid. This is the album’s longest song (and the band’s longest overall to date) and when I first saw the track time I was concerned that it would be too drawn out and spoilt. The concern was needless however as Death Throes of the Terrorsquid is easily one of the best things Alestorm has ever done. What seems to be lyrically a sequel to the previous album’s Leviathan, the song starts as typical Alestorm like much of the album, then as we get a way in things get really thrown up into the air and suddenly we’re listening to a symphonic black metal section, with vocals provided by guest vocalist Ken Sorceron (from Abigail Williams).

Of course the rest of the album is very typical Alestorm, and to be honest if you were convinced by either of their first two albums then I guess it’s a fair to say that typical Alestorm is what you’ll be looking for when coming to Back Through Time. A good thing as well that the album itself stands as a really strong offering. The opening title track is particularly good. With lyrics about going back through time to fight Vikings, the song seems almost a retort aimed towards Finnish act Turisas who including a song called Hunting Pirates on their recent album Stand Up and Fight. I’m probably reading too much into that, although Alestorm was quoted once in Metal Hammer magazine saying that Turisas thought they were completely childish. Other really strong tracks include Shipwrecked and The Sunk'n Norwegian. Another enjoyable piece is their cover of Stan Roger’s Barrett's Privateers, which features some guest guitar from Týr’s Heri Joensen.

In fact the only pointless moment on the whole album is the six second track Rumpelkombo. Yeah, just six seconds long. Well it’s not even that really, being mostly silence and all after a brief outburst of the song’s title. In reality it’s only one, maybe two seconds at most. Perhaps its Alestorm’s answer to Napalm Death’s You Suffer or something. Totally pointless in any case, blink and you’ll miss it, so to speak. But other than that, Back Through Time stands as the most solid Alestorm album to date, and this one track is over so fast it’s pretty much ignorable. I laugh at the pointlessness of it but I presume that was the desired result, to laugh, like everything else Alestorm have touched.

With Back Through Time Alestorm have done something that I personally didn’t think possible, making an album of better quality to their debut. Personally I was always of the opinion that the debut would be the benchmark and then there’d be diminishing returns thereafter, something that the group’s second album Black Sails at Midnight did nothing to change my mind about. Back Through Time proves me wrong though. There’s a good reason for that other than that shock black metal section in Death Throes of the Terrorsquid and consistently strong and funny material; it’s because on the folk side of things the album is a gigantic improvement on the two previous efforts. Although Alestorm can’t currently be considered as a completely authentic folk metal act with the melodies being delivered by frontman Christopher Bowes’ keyboard as opposed to real folk instruments (the album does feature use of tin whistles however), those melodies a lot better than on past works. The album, while not necessarily the sound of a band reaching maturity (this is Alestorm after all), sounds a lot more polished and professional for it. The release comes highly recommended.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 9.3/10)