Sailing out of the lawless port of Sao Paulo, Barbaria have been together since 2008, and had their first demo in 2011 (incidentally called
Under the Black Flag, third time that phrase has been used by a Pirate Metal band; seems to be more popular even than “Jolly Roger” or “Walk the plank”!) but their debut album proper hit in 2013, and some of the songs from that demo found their way onto it.
Barbaria are:
Draco Louback (Vocals)
Marcelo Louback (Guitars)
Carlos Veraart (Bass)
Anderson Moraes (Drums)
So for the last time, me hearties, raise the mizzemast and split the tops'l, or something, and raise yer glasses high! Keep a sharp lookout for Navy frigates as we make one final voyage to line our coffers and sate our bloodlust! Ha-har! Mateys. Possibly.
Watery Grave --- Barbaria --- 2013 (Independent)
Thankfully, YouTube has it and it kicks off with the sound of a hornpipe before a cannonball smashes it to pieces and growling, snarling guitar and hammering drums take over as we launch into “Blackbeard”, a kind of death/power metal song which unfortunately makes it sound as if the singer is chanting
“Behold the blackbird!” when I'm sure he means Blackbeard. Sadly not too many lyric sheets for this album, but this one is easy enough to work out, reciting the legend of the deadly and feared Edmund Tench. Good guitar solo, and the vocal is dark and growly enough to be suitable for Pirate Metal without being completely indecipherable.
“The piper” has a kind of western feel to it almost, though I'm not quite sure what it has to do with pirates, if anything. Good powerful song, nice sort of a reel on the guitar then sounds of surf, seagulls and wind open the very Maidenesque “Bucanneers”, one of the few songs I have lyrics for, though I don't see anything there, other than the title, that refers to pirates. It's a good tune though, with the vocal sort of shouted in a strident growl by Draco Louback. The same problem rears its head with the title track, again no mention of actual pirates, though the inference is made but I don't really think that's good enough. It's a good thrashy metal tune, decent vocal but not too much more than that really.
There's a nice soft acoustic guitar running “The Flying Dutchman”, and the vocal is quieter, though I have to admit Draco does not seem to be up to it; he's more comfortable growling or roaring, and he sounds like someone with laryngitis as this starts, to the point where he quickly returns to his gruff snarl, and indeed the music takes on a harder edge too as he sings of the famous cursed sailing ship of seamen's lore. Other than “Blackbeard”, and despite the title of “Buccaneers”, this is the only truly pirate themed song I've heard from them as yet. Next we're “Under the black flag” with a pretty cool heavy marching beat and a snarled vocal, some sharp searing guitar solos, but I'm concerned by the lyric
”March to war!” Pirates don't march. Is this about pirates? I fear it may not be. I guess any army can march under a black flag really.
Surely though “Cutthroat Island” is a pirate song? That practically
screams pirates! Well, sadly, no. I don't think these guys have quite got it. There's little to no humour in their songs, and precious few pirates either. They're more like a death metal or power metal band who desperately want to be a pPirate Metal one but are not prepared to make the proper adjustments. I mean, having songs about Blackbeard is all very fine, but one thing I've found during my journey through this not-subgenre is that you need to do more than sing about pirates (and they hardly even do that): you need to embrace the lifestyle, sing about drinking and wenches, and be prepared to do the yardarm dance in payment for your misspent life of crime. You also need to have a great sense of humour. None of these things describe Barbaria, and they're rapidly becoming something of a disappointment. They're too sombre for one thing, and they only vaguely reference elements of pirate lore, almost as if they're afraid to commit to it totally. The last track is called “Merciless”, but by now I've lost interest and can feel quite justified in dismissing these Brazilans as nowhere near a Pirate Metal band. Wonder if the guys who sung in Portuguese would have been any better? Couldn't have been any worse.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Blackbeard
2. The piper
3. Bucaneers
4. Watery grave
5. The Flying Dutchman
6. Cutthroat Island
7. Merciless
A bit of a damp squib (or should that be squid?) to end on, but overall I've really enjoyed my trip through this interesting not-quite-subgenre. One thing is certainly clear though: if Viking Metal is not a subgenre (and it's not) then Pirate Metal most definitely is not. I've heard death, speed, power and even a form of black metal used by the many bands we've heard here, and even non-metal too, so the music absolutely does not define what Pirate Metal is. Neither, indeed, do the lyrics, on their own. If Bruce and the boys started singing pirate songs you wouldn't suddenly call Iron Maiden Pirate Metal. It's more a philosophy, a way of living the pirate life.
You have to immerse yourself in it. Some bands here got it, some didn't; some got it better than others. Running Wild prefer to be accurate and historical with virtually no humour, The Dread Crew of Oddwood explore flights of fantasy (sometimes literally) but consider a good ribald sense of humour with some well-placed smut more important than dates and figures and battles. Alestorm kind of get it the best out of them all, straddling that gap between history and humour while still managing to play great power metal. But if I have to rank the bands I've heard, based not only on their music but more on a general “pirate frame of mind”, in other words, the bands I'd much prefer to see live and know I'd have a good time, that list would look something like this, in ascending order.
Barbaria
Red Rum
Verbal Deception
Running Wild
Swashbuckle
Lagerstein
The Dread Crew of Oddwood
Alestorm
So now it's time to weigh anchor an' head off into the settin' sun as the Royal Navy tries to keep up with our fleet ship. Till we meet again, me hearties! What? Who forgot to stock up on cannonballs afore we left port? I'll keelhaul ye, ye scurvy dogs! Avast there! Make ready the plank! Yo ho ho and off we go!
And now, to finish off, some pirate humour. Ha-haaar!!!
