The pirate metal scene is hot right now, and by hot I mean Facebook copying Snapchat hot. If you know me and have read my reviews, by know you must know I am a sucker for anything pirate related. I am an ALESTORM groupie (Christopher, if you read this, hit me up), RUNNING WILD aficionado (yes, I am putting them in this category, shut up now), THE DREAD CREW OF ODDWOOD rookie dancer and a YE BANISHED PRIVATEERS enthusiast. When I got my hands on THE PRIVATEER I was sold instantly by its name and the promise of a wonderful day of pillaging and plundering.

"The Golden Lay" marks THE PRIVATEER's third studio album and it is a concept work telling the story of the sextet's travels to a place only old seamen can tell you about in dingy dives, a place whose existence is only known to the entries of very old logbooks. The album is sectioned in 11 chapters of classic heavy and power metal, showing what life on the sea looks like, far away from the known world looks like, they tell you about the myths that become real life challenges, storms and gigantic waves that threaten to overflow the ship and tasty rum that nebulizes your sense. The "Preamble" is a promising start, not surprising at all that they decided to go with the sea noise. Starting off with "Where fables are made", they make a good impression, although, I do prefer Pablo's voice clean. The following songs are quite similar to the first one in terms of execution, speedy guitars, an alternating voice, and some solos here and there. They didn't reinvent the wheel, and this 3^rd installment is a classic folk metal release with the some piratey elements.

After listening to the album several times, it occurred to me what is missing, the passion.... which makes this album seem dull and unimpressive. I am disappointed, I thought I discovered my new favorite band, I was wrong. My two cents on "The Goldsteen Lay" is that the production and execution could have been better, they do echo a more mature approach than for example ALESTORM, but I cant go pass the fact that I got bored midway and couldn't remember any song afterwards.