Black Sails at Midnight

Last updated

Black Sails at Midnight
Alestorm - Black Sails at Midnight.jpg
Studio album by
Released27 May 2009
Genre
Length46:19
Label Napalm
Producer Lasse Lammert
Alestorm chronology
Captain Morgan's Revenge
(2008)
Black Sails at Midnight
(2009)
Back Through Time
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Rock Sound Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Black Sails at Midnight is the second studio album by Scottish heavy metal band Alestorm. As with their first album, all the drums tracks were recorded by session drummer Migo Wagner but touring drummer Ian Wilson added additional percussion. The album features string and brass arrangements and folk instruments as opposed to the more heavy metal instrumentation of Captain Morgan's Revenge . The special edition of the album included a live DVD of the band's performance at the 2008 Wacken Festival.

Contents

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Quest"Christopher Bowes4:59
2."Leviathan"Bowes6:00
3."That Famous Ol' Spiced"Bowes, Joe McQuade4:45
4."Keelhauled"Bowes3:44
5."To the End of Our Days"Bowes, Tim Shaw, McQuade6:25
6."Black Sails at Midnight"Bowes, Shaw3:31
7."No Quarter"Bowes3:02
8."Pirate Song"Bowes, McQuade4:01
9."Chronicles of Vengeance"Bowes, Shaw, McQuade6:30
10."Wolves of the Sea" (Pirates of the Sea cover)Jonas Liberg, Johan Sahlen, Claes Andreasson, Torbjörn Wassenius3:33
Total length:46:19
iTunes exclusive bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."P Is for Pirate"Bowes0:50
Total length:47:09

Song information

"No Quarter" was previously a demo recording by Battleheart, Alestorm's name before signing with Napalm Records. The signing with Napalm necessitated a name change to avoid confusion with Battlelore. A part of the song contains Alestorm's rendition of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. "Wolves of the Sea" and "Leviathan" are re-recorded tracks which previously appeared on the Leviathan EP. "P is for Pirate" is a comedy a capella track based on the Sesame Street song C Is For Cookie that is only available on the iTunes version of the album. It features the band singing about how much they love being pirates and their belief that pirates are much better than ninjas.

On 27 March 2009, a split album titled "Black Sails Over Europe" was released on Napalm Records, which features "That Famous Ol' Spiced", "Keelhauled", and "Wolves of the Sea", alongside recordings by Týr and Heidevolk. It was limited to 1000 copies. [4]

On 26 June 2009, a video was released for the song "Keelhauled". Alestorm's first music video. The beginning of the video depicts Christopher Bowes standing up in front of the rest of the crew urging them to allow guitarist Dani Evans to be keelhauled, following a theft. He is promptly keelhauled in a rather realistic manner. As he is keelhauled scenes of the band drinking, gambling and engaging in sexual activity aboard the pirate ship are shown. [5] It became one of Alestorm's most successful music videos and has 27 million views on YouTube (2024). [6]

Release history

CountryDate
Finland 27 May 2009
Spain
Germany 29 May 2009
Italy
Europe 1 June 2009
United States 2 June 2009

Personnel

Additional personnel and staff

Bonus DVD - Live at Wacken 2008

Wacken 2008 line-up

Charts

Chart (2009)Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [7] 60
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [8] 14
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [9] 17
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [10] 87

References

  1. "Alestorm Black Sails At Midnight Review - Review of Black Sails At Midnight by Alestorm". Heavymetal.about.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  2. Monger, James Christopher. "Review: Black Sails at Midnight". Allmusic . Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  3. Kerswell, Ronnie (June 2009). "Alestorm – Black Sails at Midnight." Rock Sound (123): 80. ISSN   1465-0185.
  4. "Black Sails Over Europe product page at Napalm Records". Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  5. "BLABBERMOUTH.NET - ALESTORM: 'Keelhauled' Video Available". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  6. ALESTORM - Keelhauled (Official Video) | Napalm Records . Retrieved 25 April 2024 via www.youtube.com.
  7. "Offiziellecharts.de – Alestorm – Black Sails at Midnight" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  8. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  9. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  10. "Alestorm Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 January 2017.