ALESTORM

Curse Of The Crystal Coconut NAPALM

Pirate metal picaroons pull more treasures from the depths

IF EVER THE world needed a dose of silliness to escape the very real sense of impending doom, it’s now, so Alestorm’s sixth album really couldn’t come at a better time. Produced with the utmost attention to detail and brimming with catchy songs, Curse Of The Crystal Coconut is another gem in the Scots’ steadily improving repertoire of jolly, foul-mouthed metal shanties that go far beyond the confines of gimmickry.

Without doubt there are moments when Alestorm sail dangerously close to poor taste, but our now-familiar head pirate Christopher Bowes is careful to contain the f-bombs and dick jokes to certain points along the journey. is the obvious choice here, where the raucous, but thankfully the expletivefuelled slanging match is not representative of Alestorm’s overall oeuvre. The opening track, , says it all: and like that appeared on their 2011 album, it’s another shot of Alestorm’s brazen self-awareness as they sing .