Skull Branded Pirates - The Legend of Salty Jim CD Review

They say :-

Formed in the summer of 2005 after an acoustic guitar found its way to a BBQ, much gallantry and enthusiasm ensued and the 'Pirate Band' was in motion.

After a number of line up changes and additional guitarists the four core crew members, The Cap'in, Scare, Dread and Bastard, remained. But soon we realised that with only two songs we werent going to be going anywhere fast. So it was back to the composition room.

After a shakey period in late 2006 where the band almost fell apart due to inactivity, a new allegiance was formed and we all swore to make it work.

Cue 2007 with the addition of a new guitarist, Fradders, the Captain finally took his rightful place as figurehead to focus on vocals, and 9 written songs, we felt it was time to venture forth on an adventure. September the 19, International Talk Like a Pirate Day saw us set sail on the mad adventure of gigging and began our endless quest for more gigs.

Skull Branded Pirates would be an easy band to dismiss. Pirate outfits, Yaaaarrrrrs, Me Harteys and all the usual pirate gubbins that typically surround this genre are present and correct. So there you have it. A novelty band. Ignore them then, they're not serious...

Well, actually, no. It's not that simple.

My first experience of SBP was when they played live at the SOS festival in Manchester, and yes, they all do dress up as pirates with varying levels of conviction. And they have pirate-y stage names like Captain One-Ayed Wilson and Fradders the Cabin boy. But once you get over the outfits, and the sparklers in the Captains flintlock (!!), and the cardboard cannon something else strikes you...

These guys are really good live. Musically as tight as an albatross' sphincter with some top notch guitar riffing and soloing, hooks big enough to catch a whale and a hugely entertaining front man. I mean, who'd have thought.

So, pretty good live, but what about the CD? I hear ye, sorry you, ask. Well, what we have here is an excellent example of power metal influenced Heavy Metal. The tracks on this CD race along like a Frigate in a force 8, erm, I mean, like, well, like this sort of metal should. Think Iron Maiden-ey, Saxon-ey Metal with hints of Helloween's power stylings and you get the idea.

As you would expect the lyrics and vocals are firmly berthed in a nautical theme, but not overpoweringly so. This is clearly a fun album, but one made by a crew who take what they do very seriously. Please don't dismiss this release, or indeed this band, as a joke. They are entertaining live and in 'The Legend of Salty Jim' they have released a very good metal album.

I'm sure there will be 'metal fans' who will disregard this album without really giving it a chance, which is a shame because if you like 'traditional' metal you'll like the Skull Branded Pirates.

So there you arrrrrrrr :)

Dizzy

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