After departing from Saaribbean (an island state in Saarland/Germany) and travelling the Seven Sea's we have TORTUGA sailing in to drop their fourth album "Flying Dutchman" which was released in July 2021. This one is filled with lots of catchy, classic sounding heavy metal with clear female vocal from their very own CAPTAIN MARY READ. And I would like to point that yes they ARRR!!!! (see what I did there?) real pirates and I will not be told otherwise.

The album opens with the intro track "Above the Clouds". It is a cinematic score that really sets the tone for that Pirates of the Caribbean adventure vibe. The first song then comes in with "Stowaway" and as the music hits we get a very punk vibe here. The vocals then come in to command her crew. We get a catchy chorus about setting sail. A pretty cool guitar solo can be found too and it is a good opener and lots of fun. After that we have "Pirates of Saaibia" which has an added fiddle to the heavy guitars which gives us that old "Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum" drinking vibe. The song gives an introduction to who each band member is and has some nice lead guitar work that really adds to the feel of the track.

"Parley" is a song that opens with some old school heavy riffing and the band sound on fire here. Here we get a cool guitar solo, other cool lead guitar lines and a big chorus that capture that 80's metal vibe. A little similar to track three, "Code of Conduct" opens with an added accordion with the heavy guitars this time. The lyrics here seem to be about pirate parties and drinking (at least that's what I got from it anyway). It has a very catchy chorus and a guitar solo that helps to carry the vibe. A clean guitar melody comes in out of nowhere with some slightly haunting vocals to go with it.

The song "Place Behind the Sun" opens like a piano ballad. The vocals here are a lot softer and a guitar line creeps in to complement the piano melody. The song seems to be about feeling the wind as you sail through the seas and miss those left behind. Some heavy guitars come in soon after and an epic sounding guitar solo. This is a very different song to the rest of the album. The last song on the album here is "Shark in the Dark" and here the crew are going to go out with a bang. It opens with some killer riffing and ripping lead guitar lines. The chorus here is one you can really chant along with and is just a straight up heavy metal track. Nice way to finish off the album.

From listening to "Flying Dutchman" you can hear that TORTUGA have some very catchy songs and are having a lot if fun with their music and themes. The production here is good but the vocals sound like they are just on top of the music rather then mixed in with it though. They really run with the pirate themes with the lyrics and the riffing really helps with capturing this vibe. This is certainly one band who will not be walking the plank.