enter the goatlady

I think Dave was the first person I know to discover the genre of pirate metal - pirate as in “arrrrr matey”, not pirate as in illegally downloaded, that is.

The concept sounds weird until you hear it, but the combination of blistering metal riffs and the lore of the high seas actually go together really well. Pirates are back in vogue thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and what group of musicians are more like lawless outlaws than metalheads?

The first band Dave discovered was Verbal Deception, a Canadian band. Here’s a live clip:

YouTube - Verbal Deception - Pirate Attack

We are of course going to Wacken this year and one of the bands on the bill is Alestorm - Scottish pirate metal, of all things. Metal Sucks recently posted about them. Here’s a live clip:

YouTube - Alestorm - Captain Morgan’s Revenge (Live)

While Verbal Deception are awesome metal first and pirate second, I think that Alestorm are less metal and more pirate/folk. I recently found a third band which takes the cake as far as I’m concerned - Swashbuckle. They are very metal and very, very pirate. Carn, the dude plays with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder. And check out the background of their MySpace page = that’s my new PC wallpaper. Live clip:

YouTube - Swashbuckle - “Crewed by the Damned” Live

Apparently pirate metal is not a new thing - there was a German band called Running Wild in the 80’s. I haven’t tracked any of their stuff down though.

So there you have it, ye scurvy dogs…