Chosen by DJ Monk
With the quarantine blues most definitely setting in, we wanted to do our best to brighten everyone’s mood as we went hunting through the latest batch of almost 100 submissions for our latest ‘Video Of The Week’… and there’s probably no one better equipped to do just that than Captain Christopher Bowes and his motley crüe of rapscallions by the collective name of Alestorm!
Yes, ahoy me hearties, everyone’s favourite bunch of rambunctious pirate metallers have just pulled up to the dock and invaded both our aural and visual cortexes on their latest ‘Treasure Chest Party Quest’, the first single to be lifted from their forthcoming new album, ‘Curse Of The Crystal Coconut’, due for release on 29 May via Napalm Records.
The song is pure Alestorm through and through – inanely stupid lyrics about drinking, partying, pirating and, er, even more drinking, with another insanely catchy chorus of the type in which they specialize – while the video is… well, equally inane and stupid – and brilliant good fun! It’s the sort of thing that Alestorm do best and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face in these non-partying days in which we find ourselves:
We maintain the pirate theme with the first of our special merit award winners, in the equally inane Ye Banished Privateers and their wonderfully silly, and self-deprecating, new offering, ‘No Metal, No Pay’, which, appropriately enough, was released this past April Fool’s Day – which sums it all up, basically:
We keep the fun factor turned up to 11 with the latest video from Bay Area thrash titans Testament, and their tale of the ‘Children Of The Next Level’, the new single from their totally stonking new album, ‘Titans Of Creation’ (see what we did there?). Despite the serious message behind the song – it is about the notorious Heaven’s Gate cult – the band had some fun with this animated interpretation, complete with comic book headbanging and a new twist of the subject of brain washing:
Now, doesn’t a story about a good Samaritan coming to the rescue of a hapless rock ‘n’ roll fan always brighten the darkest recesses of your soul? No? Well, it feckin’ should – and that’s what Melbourne classic rockers Riff Raiders have done with their latest video, the true story of ‘Samantha Jones’… We’ll not give the storyline away, but in this age of selfishness and introversion, it’s a heart-warming tale – and, yes, it does have a happy ending! And, it’s a bloody good tune to boot:
Our final offering to help blow away those quarantine blues comes from Swedish punk crüe The Headlines, and the title track to their new album, ‘Warpaint’, which is due out via our friends at the wonderfully named Flying Dolphin Entertainment in the very near future. Swedish is producing some rather excellent pop/pun/power pop stuff at the moment, and The Headlines definitely, and defiantly, help to cement its reputation as a true hotbed of the genre:
So, that’s your lot for this week. We hope we’ve helped to lift your mood somewhat. Until next time… keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StayTheFuckAtHome \m/