Rock, punk, and metal are well-known for having a lot of niche sub-genres. They typically emerge from different cultures’ interpretations of rock/metal styles or changes in instrumental arrangements. Then there’s pirate metal, a heavy metal sub-genre inspired by those reaving sea rebels of the past.
What is Pirate Metal?
Pirate metal can best be described as a fusion of heavy metal with folk metal, but you replace folk’s pagan themes with swashbuckling pirate escapades instead. It deals with the caricature of piracy that we all know today – hardened sailors with hooks for hands, peg legs, and a lot of old slang you don’t hear anymore.
To better understand, newcomers should look back at how sea shanties took over the world in 2021. This music trend had people of all stripes singing sea shanties or remixing them for a more modern sound. Put simply, pirate metal is the metalhead’s sea shanty. More broadly, nautical themes have always fascinated us and led to popular media in books, TV shows, and even games online. iGaming websites host a lot of slot games with pirate or otherwise nautical themes. On an individual level, fishing slots like the popular Big Bass Splash game also tap into our fascination with the sea and everything that can be found in it, from tasty fish to hidden treasure. Pirate metal sways to the other end of that scale, towards treasure and other appealing events and myths from the pirate age.
A band’s dedication to the bit can vary. A lot of them dress for the occasion when they play live, like a piratical version of shock rock. They may also put on a stereotypical pirate accent while shouting their lyrics. Others have picked up and learned to play time-appropriate instruments like accordions or their forgotten cousins like the concertina.
Pirate Metal’s Early Days
If you had to point at a country for the origin of pirate metal, it’d be Australia. If you had to point a second, it’d be Germany. This is strange as they’re two countries not well associated with pirates – or at least the exaggerated pirate antics that came from the Golden Age of Piracy in the Americas. From its sound, you’d assume it had come from New England or a port city in the south of Britain.
However, the land down under is where the first identified pirate metal band was formed – Black Jack in 1979. They leaned into shock rock elements, using props on stage for various acts. Then, the German band Running Wild, who had only ever released two heavy metal albums up to this point, released their third ‘Under Jolly Roger’ album with a special theme in 1987. In an unplanned move, the band had forayed into pirate metal.
Alestorm & Popularity
In the music industry, genres are often best remembered by those who popularized them, not created them. In this case, there’s only one band that fits the bill – Alestorm. Like past bands, they hadn’t originally planned the project with pirate antics in mind. Starting as Battleheart close to the highlands of Scotland, they made the song ‘Heavy Metal Pirates’, which was an early hit. Battleheart quickly became Alestorm and they went on to single-handedly introduce pirate metal to millions of people.
Today, Alestorm is still releasing albums and racks up nearly 900k monthly listeners on Spotify. Their top five songs have also amassed 168 million listens and counting. Now that Paganfest is back after a ten-year absence, Alestorm is top billing. Once Alestorm set the bar, a lot of follow-up bands entered the genre, with varying levels of commitment to the bit.
While it may seem out of left field compared to other metal genres, the appeal of pirate metal to its fans makes sense if you map it out. To many, pirates represent hard living, hard partying, and defying authority. Those are themes that have animated rock and roll for decades now and helped spawn genres like metal and punk in the first place. Pirate metal may be a niche sound that won’t take over the airwaves anytime soon, but it’s showing no signs of stopping in the future.
