Funded by a Kickstarter which paid out today, this is Red Rum’s second album and it’s chock full of baroque piratical loveliness. Currently it’s only available as a digital to those who coughed up for the production, but will soon be available commercially.
For those who’ve not caught Red Rum before, please don’t instantly dismiss them as an Alestorm knock-off. They’re very much their own band with a different sound, just similar themes.
There are ten tracks on here, and each is instantly recognisable as being nautically related. The core riffs and beats instantly bring to mind creaking ships, rotten docks, alehouses full of wenches and people with a thing for parrots as fashion accessories. Red Rum are a great band, put on a wonderful live show and have released an album to be proud of.
You can’t really pick a single musical style, however. Tunes range from the light and melodic, such as the opening instrumental “The Rising”, to immensely heavy – like the closing track “To The North”. The tracks in between are, well, in between. Fancy banging your head to a party tune? “Booze & Glory” it is. Need to dance a jig? “Drenched in Ale” had our three year old bouncing about!
“Cut Throat Island” is a lovely track, maintaining a melodic edge while wrapping metal around itself as it progresses. Then you hit “Dutch Courage” which is simple instrumental guitar brilliance. Light, airy and easy to listen to.
Earlier on in the album is the keyboard-driven “Sunken Treasure Horde” featuring a mixture of regular and more death-y vocals. The fast-paced “Sailor Jerry” is a great little number, too. Short, catchy, shouty, dance-y.
Essentially, the album gives every member of the band a chance to shine – all six of them. If you fancy a taster, check out the video below of their Bloodstock performance from a couple of weeks ago. There are one or two songs from Booze & Glory in there.
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