Alestorm

Scottish folk/power metal band from Perth (Scotland), Alestorm was formed in 2004 by Gavin Harper (guitar and backing vocals until 2008) and Christopher Bowes (keyboards and vocals). The band's name, which could be translated as "Ale Storm" (Ale being "top fermented" beer), has seen its personnel fluctuate considerably over the years, but this has had no influence on its music, which is described as "pirate metal", since most of the band's compositions refer to the world of piracy. Alestorm signed to Napalm Records in 2007, and released their first two albums back-to-back in 2008 and 2009. Entitled Captain Morgan's Revenge and Black Sails at Midnight respectively, they didn't make any waves. Their successor, Back Through Time, was released in 2011, and earned an anecdotal entry into the UK Top 200 at number 200. The tide turned with 2014's Sunset on the Golden Age, which reached #68 in the charts and set the scene for Not Grave but the Sea, which did even better in 2017 at #50. But it's above all in Germany that Alestorm's breakthrough proves spectacular, with 26th and 14th place for these two releases. Curse of the Crystal Coconut, released in 2020, again reached 68th place in the UK and climbed to 12th in the German charts. With Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum, Alestorm inaugurates its first Top 10 album in Germany in 2022 (no. 7). After the release of the Voyage of the Dead Marauder EP in 2024 comes the album The Thunderfist Chronicles (2025), featuring contributions from Patty Gurdy on hurdy-gurdy and Russell Allen, lead singer of Symphony X and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.