It’s hard to stand out in the music industry. Especially when you play metal music. To the untrained ear, most metal music sounds the same. There’s the loud electric guitar, a heavy drum track, and loud – if not screamed – vocals.

In fact, most people who don’t regularly listen to metal don’t know what the lyrics are, even after hearing them! All that to say, if you want to stand out in the metal scene, you need to do something new and different.

So, that’s exactly what Alestorm did when they came slashing onto the scene in 2004. What did they do differently, you ask? They added a little…swashbuckling to the metal scene. The band describes themselves as “pirate metal,” which are two words we really thought we’d never hear together – but it works!

Making of the Band (of Pirates)

When the band first got together, they called themselves Battleheart. That was back in 2004 before they’d found their pirate-metal niche. The band was originally just a twosome, made up of Gavin Harper and Christopher Bowes. Gavin was the main guitar player, while Bowes handled the keyboard and vocals. They put out an EP titled Battleheart in 2006, with mild success. Perhaps it was the fact that their EP didn’t blow up that the two realized they needed to try something different.

Alestorm, Assemble!

After the Battleheart EP, they expanded the band to include Dani Evans (bass) and Dough Swierczek (drums). With the new members on board and some pirate-y inspiration, they put out Terror on the High Seas, not long after. That album, with its pirate-metal sound, got them signed with Napalm records. It was after signing with Napalm that they officially changed their name.

Since then, Alestorm has put out multiple pirate-themed albums, in both name and music. There’s been Captain Morgan’s Revenge, Black Sails at Midnight, and No Grave But the Sea, to name some favorites.