Terror on the High Seas

Here we have the second EP from Scotland's pirate metal stalwarts, Battleheart, and once again it is an incredibly enjoyable chunk of old school Heavy Fucking Metal with a slight folk twist, improving and progressing nicely from their previous work. To be honest, even though Battleheart are a very new band, they already fucking slay most of the army of 'true metal' collectives around today; this is full of fire, power, passion, and pirates. Who the fuck doesn't like pirates? Posers, that's who. Even better, this is once again a free download, so you really have no excuse not to pick up both of Battleheart's EP's.

Once we get past the (good, actually) orchestral introduction - hey, any piece referencing Captain Morgan is fine with me - we find that this time round the guys have really tightened up the songwriting; whilst this new effort does not have the raw catchiness of their self-titled debut, it has a lot more depth and staying power. The musicianship is truly top notch; seizure-inducingly cool solos and chest-thumping riffage duel with fanfaring keyboards, growling vocals that are much improved from the previous release (Chris Boltendahl of Grave Digger is the main reference I can draw in this department, if only he sounded more like a thick-bearded, rum-swilling pirate captain) and rock steady drums. The production this time round is thicker and more powerful, with a much greater (as in actually there this time) bass presence and a better mix. Songwriting is more involved too, utilising more complex sets of chord and key progressions; and, with the fucking awesome 'Wenches and Mead', Battleheart even mix up the tempos occasionally rather than just relentlessly barrelling along as is the norm. The songs are also in general faster and thrashier than they were perviously - certainly not a bad thing - and to top it all off, you literally cannot go wrong with lyrics such as these:

"When I get back from a mighty quest
I have no need for sleep or rest;
I head to a tavern for a drink,
And get so drunk I cannot think!
A wench by my side and a jar of mead
These are the things that I most need;
So I sit back and sing this song
And drink and party all night long."

You know what that is? Pure quality.