CALICO JACK - Self Titled
Underground Symphony
At a time when I would've thought the Pirate Metal genre was dead along comes this one. OK so I'm not immune from the whole Pirate Metal thing. I've seen SWASHBUCKLE twice and enjoyed em. And if you thumb through my CD collection you'll find at least one ALESTORM release along with two from RUNNING WILD. I'm also pretty sure I wrote about one a decade ago from Canada, of all places, called BLACKGUARD. I believe they were on a big metal label at the time which was jumping on the Pirate Metal bandwagon.
So here we now have a band from Italy, of all places, doing the whole pirate thing. They're even named after an English pirate from the 18th century. What, no Italian pirates? Yeah well before I delve into this band's music I need to make something clear. I have never subscribed to the whole romanticism and revisionist history of piracy. But I'm not going to use this review to elaborate my true opinion based on real history. You can all go look it up yourselves.
As far as CALICO JACK goes this their full length debut carries all the cliche pirate memes that fall in with the genre. It's part folk metal part power metal which is a Euro-centric characteristic for these types of bands. What made SWASHBUCKLE different and likable was that they were basically a speed metal band with a shtick. This Italian act is a six piece band with one of it's members playing violin. Yeah you need that and it's featured quite prominently in their songs as a lead and rhythm instrument.
Along with songs containing typical galloping rhythms, some power metal bombast numbers, etc. These guys do indulge in some calypso influences. Probably the closest they're ever come to the Caribbean. But it does lend to them some authenticity. That and tossing in a type of jig dance tune. Vocals fall into that gravelly throat well. The end result is that CALICO JACK know their pirating skills well as far as the music goes. Break out the rum.
https://www.undergroundsymphony.it/
https://www.facebook.com/CalicoJackOfficial/
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