Alestorm

Following in the wake of buccaneering German pirate-metallers Running Wild, Scotland's Alestorm emerged in 2007 with a boozy blend of power metal and hard rock that looked to the high seas for inspiration. Their humor and swashbuckling melodies, which often evoke sea shanties and traditional English, Irish, and Scottish folk songs, first found favor with European audiences, with 2009's Black Sails at Midnight making a strong showing in Germany. The band achieved international success with their fourth long-player, 2014's Sunset on the Golden Age, which debuted at number seven on the U.S. Heatseekers charts. Alestorm has continued to proudly fly the Jolly Roger on subsequent efforts like No Grave But the Sea (2017), Curse of the Crystal Coconut (2020), Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum (2022), and The Thunderfist Chronicles (2025).