Black Sails at Midnight is the second studio album by the Scottish power

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

/Pirate Metal band Alestorm

Alestorm

Alestorm is a folk metal band from Perth, Scotland. Their music is characterized by a pirate theme, and as a result have been dubbed a "Pirate metal" band at a popular heavy metal related website....

. 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

Captain Morgan's Revenge

-Personnel:* Christopher Bowes - Lead/Backing Vocals; Keyboards; Tin Whistle* Gavin Harper - Lead/Rhythm/Acoustic Guitars; Jaw Harp; Additional Drums; Tamborine; Backing Vocals* Dani Evans - Bass Guitars* Ian Wilson - PercussionWith:...

. The special edition of the album included a live DVD of the band's performance at the 2008 Wacken Festival.

Track listing

1. "The Quest" – 4:56 (Bowes)
2. "Leviathan" – 5:55 (Bowes)
3. "That Famous Ol' Spiced" – 4:45 (Bowes/McQuade)
4. "Keelhauled" – 3:42 (Bowes)
5. "To the End of Our Days" – 6:22 (Bowes/Shaw/McQuade)
6. "Black Sails at Midnight" – 3:30 (Bowes/Shaw)
7. "No Quarter" – 3:02 (Bowes)
8. "Pirate Song" – 4:02 (Bowes/McQuade)
9. "Chronicles of Vengeance" – 6:24 (Bowes/Shaw/McQuade)
10. "Wolves of the Sea
    Wolves of the Sea
    "Wolves of the Sea" is a song performed by the Latvian musical project Pirates of the Sea. Written by four Swedish composers, the song was chosen to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. It was very popular with the audience in the UK, receiving 10 points from...
    
    " (Pirates of the Sea
    Pirates of the Sea
    Pirates of the Sea is a musical project that represented Latvia in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with their song "Wolves of the Sea". It consists of three members: Italian singer Roberto Meloni who is living in Latvia, dancer Aleksandra Kurusova as well as the TV and radio person Jānis Vaišļa...
    
     cover) – 3:33 (Liberg/Sahlen/Andreasson/Wassenius)
11. "P is for Pirate (iTunes exclusive bonus track)" – 0:50 (Bowes)

Song information

"No Quarter" was previously a demo recording by Battleheart, Alestorm's name before signing with Napalm Records

Napalm Records

Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock.Originally, Napalm Records focused mainly on black metal acts such as Abigor and Summoning and folk metal bands such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg....

 necessitated a name change to avoid confusion with Battlelore

Battlelore

Battlelore is a metal band from Lappeenranta, Finland. All of Battlelore's lyrics concern J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.-Style:Battlelore mixes female vocals with harsh male growling in "beauty and the beast" duet, backed by heavy guitar riffing and occasional keyboard interludes. The band's...

. 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

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

. "P is for Pirate" is a comedy a capella track based on the Sesame Street

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

 song C Is For Cookie

C is for Cookie

"C Is For Cookie", by Joe Raposo, is a song performed by Cookie Monster, a muppet character from the television series Sesame Street. It was first performed on the show on March 28, 1972, although it had been released on record a year previously, on The Muppet Alphabet Album...

 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 ninja.

On March 27, 2009, a split album titled "Black Sails Over Europe" was released on Napalm Records

Napalm Records

Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock.Originally, Napalm Records focused mainly on black metal acts such as Abigor and Summoning and folk metal bands such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg....

, which features "That Famous Ol' Spiced", "Keelhauled", and "Wolves of the Sea", alongside recordings by Týr

Týr (band)

Týr, , is a folk metal band from the Faroe Islands. Their subject matter revolves almost entirely around old Nordic lore, mythology, and history, taking their name from a Norse god of war. They signed a worldwide deal with Austria's Napalm Records in early 2006, while signed to the Faroese record...

 and Heidevolk

Heidevolk

Heidevolk is a folk/viking metal band from the Netherlands. The lyrical themes of their music are inspired by nature, the history of Gelderland, and the history of Germanic mythology. All of their lyrics are in their native language, Dutch...

. It was limited to 1000 copies.

On 26 June 2009, a video was released for the song "Keelhauled". Alestorm's first music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

. 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

Keelhauling

Keelhauling is a form of punishment meted out to sailors at sea...

, 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.http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=122631

Release history

Country	Date
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...	27 May 2009
Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	29 May 2009
Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	1 June 2009
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	2 June 2009

Line-up

• Christopher Bowes - Lead/Backing Vocals; Keyboards; Tin Whistle
• Dani Evans - Lead/Rhythm guitars; Backing Vocals
• Gareth Murdock - Bass guitars
• Ian Wilson - Percussion; Vibraslap; backing vocals

With:

• Lasse Lammert - Additional guitars, backing vocals
• Migo Wagner - Drums (due to Ian Wilson being unavailable for recording)
• Mirjam Beyer - Violin
• Tobias Hain - Trumpet
• Carsten Petersen - Trumpet; Cornet
• Heinrich Gimpel - Bass Trombone
• Austus Twele - Great Highland Bagpipes
• Tim Shaw - Backing Vocals
• Brenden Casey - Backing Vocals
• Bee Bloodpunch - Backing Vocals
• Gorden Krei - Brass Arrangements

Bonus DVD - Live at Wacken 2008

• Intro (Bowes)
• Over the Seas (Bowes)
• The Huntmaster (Bowes)
• Death Before the Mast (Bowes/Harper/McQuade)
• Nancy the Tavern Wench (Bowes)
• Set Sail and Conquer (Bowes/Harper)
• Wenches and Mead (Bowes)
• Captain Morgan's Revenge (Bowes)

Wacken 2008 line-up

• Christopher Bowes - Lead Vocals; Keyboards
• Gavin Harper - Lead Guitars; Backing Vocals
• Dani Evans
  Dani Evans (musician)
  Dani Evans is the guitarist and former bassist for the Scottish power metal band Alestorm,, having taken over guitars after the departure of Gavin Harper...
  
  - Bass Guitars; Backing Vocals
• Alex Tabisz - Drums

External links

• Music video for Keelhauled at YouTube.