News, and some music

As I sit here at my kitchen table, typing away on my laptop, I can hardly believe what a crazy summer this has been. I've put on a garage sale, worked in a government cubicle, washed cars, and even received a car of my own. More importantly, I'm adjusting to the reality that my family is finally selling my childhood home. I've known for a while that this would happen eventually, but foreknowledge has done little to ultimately lessen the strangeness of the situation. Moving out of the home I've lived in for as long as I can remember is a frankly surreal experience, and certainly not one I know how to process. Getting ready to move has occupied my time and thoughts this summer, but now that the house is actually going on the market I think it's time I try and get on with my life. For all the memories I associate with this house, it's still just stuff in the end. No sense in getting so hung-up about it, I suppose. Anyways, on with the music. Introducing Alestorm, a Scottish metal band with a pirate fixation. There's a curious tendency of some metal bands (especially power and folk metal groups) to intentionally restrict their lyrical and thematic content to a single topic. From what I've seen, that topic is generally either the medieval ages (the typical setting of high fantasy) or vikings (which makes sense considering how many great Scandinavian metal bands there are). Alestorm, on the other hand, is the only metal group I've seen to have pirates as their central thematic element. The group hammers out well polished power/folk metal, with accordion synths adding to the band's pirate-esque feel. There are more straightforward metal numbers (the guitar harmonics on the track Heavy Metal Pirates reminds me of some classic Judas Priest numbers), but the vast majority of Alestorm songs are littered with faux-accordion, Bowes' gruff Scottish accent, and a certain lightheartedness that separates Alestorm from the crowd. The lyrics, despite being limited to pirate-y things, are genuinely clever and often hilarious ("You put your faith in Odin and Thor, / We put ours in cannons and whores"). At first glance, Alestorm has put themselves into a very narrow box by restricting themselves to songs about pirates. In truth, the band exercises more flexibility than most metal groups I've come across, switching freely between tropes of power metal, folk metal, thrash metal, and even death metal without leaving the listener behind. Alestorm brings well-polished production, creative lyrics, and enough love of fun to the table for me to heartily recommend them. They just released their fourth album (Sunset on the Golden Age) little more than a week ago. Give it a listen, and you might see why I love this group so much.