Who likes pirate metal? I do! And the 1000 people who sold out Toad’s Place do too!
On March 24, 2024 the band Alestorm brought their pirate metal act, and giant inflatable rubber ducky, to New Haven, Connecticut for some metal, sing alongs, wenches, and mead!
This was night 5 on their Voyage of the Dead Marauder tour and it was a pirate party indeed. The crowd was filled with wannabe pirates, bar wenches, and lots of crazy misfits. But metal united us all!
First to play was a band called Glyph. Now they say this was their 5th live show ever, not just for this tour. But their comfort level on stage made them seem like old pros. And awesome pros at that! I love me some good old fashioned power metal. I may not be a Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons nerd, but I sure love metal inspired by that nonsense. These dudes didn’t disappoint. While they only played for about 30 minutes, and all songs were new to me, they had some tunes. When the World was Young was an awesome tune as well as Defy the Night from their EP Volarad.
I had to listen to their stuff after the show. The recordings are good, but live they were great! I would love to see them again so I hope they stick around on the metal scene for a bit.
Next was Elvinking…another band unfamiliar to me. When they first came out and the singer was wearing horns, I had my doubts. But I love metal so I was open to hearing some new stuff. Meh. These dudes kinda sucked in my opinion. My buddy Pecker agreed. Sorry fellas. That’s not to say the whole place felt that way. Many people were piss drunk already, and they seemed to have a fan base so plenty of peeps enjoyed the show…but I didn’t. The whole band seemed bored except the singer. He was really into it and is likely the driving force while the other dudes are just waiting for a new opportunity. I could be way off, but that was my perspective. I couldn’t wait for their set to be over. They played a full hour. And their bass player headbangs with a man-bun. C’mon!!! I would’ve preferred a 2 band lineup and skipped these dudes. There were some balloons being smacked around the crowd during their set and those seemed to gain more attention than the band.
Next up was the main act, Alestorm. “I’m going to see Alestorm.” “Oh cool, I love Halestorm,” is what many people said to me. No man. Ale like beer!
These guys rocked. Somehow the singer sounds like a Scottish pirate or something but he’s a dude from Tennessee I’m told. Am I a mega fan who knows all their songs and lyrics? No. But there were many people there who are. It was pretty awesome to see a sellout crowd supporting such goofy metal. The music is legit, the lyrics are ridiculous, they have a keytar, and they have a ton of fun playing for their loyal fans. So for me, that makes it a great show.
They all had some kind of green on that played well with the black lights, they ran around the stage all night, interacted with the crowd, drank a bunch, and just kept rocking and being goofy. Along with the pirate metal theme, they also have a bit of a punk sound at time.
Keelhauled was the opener followed by No Grave But the Sea and then a few others. They played Hangover which is apparently a cover song, and then Uzbekistan which they say was the first time playing it live. Mexico, a crowd pleaser and one of my faves, showed up a couple songs later. Big Ship Little Ship (a song they claim to have stolen from Bob the Builder) and P.A.R.T.Y. were towards the end with a few others scattered in between.
For the encore, they played Drink, Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship, and of course, Fucked With An Anchor – their biggest hit for sure and a hilarious tune if you’re not easily offended.
What was a first for me at this show, was that there was a sign language interpreter there for a deaf woman in the crowd. The lyrics are so absurd, that I had to watch him from time to time. We were right at the stage over to one side and he was right in front of us. Watching Fucked With An Anchor get signed was fantastic!
If you made it this far but have no idea who this band is, check them out. Even if you don’t like the music, you’ll probably laugh, unless you’re up tight.
Now get out there and go to a show!
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