Raise a tankard to Alestorm, the Scottish Metal Pirates!

I want more wenches
Wenches and mead
I want more wenches
Lots of wenches is what I need
--Alestorm, "Wenches and Mead"

While this does not properly belong to the Metal CD Project, I could not resist writing about this excellent band. The CD was bought as a New Year's gift for a piratical friend. Once we saw that one of the songs was "Nancy the Tavern Wench," and this piratical friend of ours happens to have a piratical wench wife named Nancy, we couldn't help but pick it up for them.

The CD is Captain Morgan's Revenge, by the Scottish Pirate Metal band Alestorm. As you can imagine, it's pirate-and-beer themed, which was the whole reason we bought it. As an added bonus, the songs are great, and have been aptly described as "metal sea shanties." Some of the songs are good, rollicking drinking songs ("Nancy the Tavern Wench," "Captain Morgan's Revenge") while others are more straight-up rock ("The Huntmaster" will remind you of an infamous Nightwish song).

Of course, the real stand-out on an already great album is "Wenches and Mead." When I saw the title on the back of the CD, I was just happy that there was a song out there called "Wenches and Mead." When I actually listened to the song... it was everything I had hoped for.

So whether you're a cutlass-swinging, rum-swilling pirate or a ninja-loving pansy, you owe it to yourself to check out Alestorm. I haven't had this much fun with metal since I got into DragonForce, and that's about the best recommendation any band could get.