Devil's Review : Swashbuckle - Crime Always Pays

Here we are with another Devil Music real time review. For this installment I thought we would go ahead and review Swashbuckle's latest release: Crime Always Pays. This album has already been released in Europe on Sept 10th of last year, but a date has yet to be determined for us Yankee land-lubbers. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a US release date announcement and let you know.

Let's go ahead and get started then:

Slowly Wept The Sea. A really nice instrumental. These little ditties are all over their albums and have a way of setting the mood. Not so much a pirate jig but nice nonetheless.

We Are The Storm. Kick ass from the get go. This is what Swashbuckle does best. Pure aggressive "fuck you and the boat you came in on" music. There's someone else singing now which is new for Swashbuckle. Not sure who it is but I like it. Off to a great start.

This Round's On You!. Great thrash-y riffs. Again with the other vocalist, it could be Nobeard, but I've never heard him sing like that before, maybe it's Redrum. This song makes me want to hit you in the face with a fucking parrot!

Powder Keg. Bombastic double bass. Some parts of this song reminds me of old Megadeth. Polaris (at least that's what I hear in my head when I hear this song. I like the direction they're going. Yo ho, yo ho, this album rocks to me. Fucking awesome.

Where Victory is Penned. Another fast paced song. Switching back and forth on the vocals. I can hear Rob saying "if the cleaner of the two vocalists was the lead singer, I'd like it more". Me, I'm good with both, though I have to admit I like the alternating vocals throughout the album. It's what keeps this CD sounding different than their other releases.

Of Hooks and Hornswogglers. Nice soft song. Most likely an interlude. Really pretty. Never thought I'd ever say that on a Swashbuckle review.

A Time of Wooden Ships and Iron Men. There's actually a pirate-ish accent here. Good solid track. Love the gallops here.

Crime Always Pays. Title track. It's good. Not my favourite track on the album but I don't hate it either.

Raw Doggin' at the Raw Bar. Back to the trash riffs. Great little breakdown here in the song. Like it.

The Gallow's Pole Dancer. Musically, this album is pretty diverse.. there's subtle hints here and there of a lot of different styles and genres but it's still Swashbuckle. There's an interesting 'cutscene' here in the song of a club announcing a stripper.. Pretty funny.

Legacy's Allure. Another peaceful instrumental. Very nice. I actually like these Pirate Jigs a lot more than on the other two releases.. Not that they were bad, these are just that good.

At the Bottom of a Glass. Back to the rock. Great double bass drum here.. Catchy riff from RedRum... This one's another really great track.. I'm really digging the musicality of this one, and I can almost understand Nobeard, no problem.

To Steal a Life. Fast song. This is a song you can definitely get a circle pit going. Fucking crazy song.. Really wild. Back to the double vocals. I really wanna see this one performed live.. The breakdown is fucking sick.. killer riff! Very nice headbanging riff there...

You Bring the Cannon, We'll Bring the Balls. Another fast song. A faster trash riff and double bass drum than the previous one. The guitar work is really catchy on this album, I'm really enjoying all this cd has to offer. And who doesn't love a song that has the word "balls" in it?!

Surf-N-Turf (For Piratical Girth). Sounds the same as the previous two tracks, methinks they should have split these three songs up, since they're the most similar.. It's not a bad song, just a bit repetitive.

Rope's End. Ending it on an instrumental? Strange. I was hoping for the usual where they do some fucked up shit.. like a metal version of Spongebob Squarepants or have a track of just Pirate lingo.. It's a nice song.. Waiting for the end to see if they throw something funny in... Nope.. Oh well. Good song anyways.


All in all it's a kick-ass CD. I think the only thing that's keeping this from being a perfect 10 is because of the vocal style of this genre: I have to read the lyrics to understand what's going on, even though the music is fucking amazing, it makes it hard to sing along if you don't know what they're saying. If Kelly Clarkson sings: "I'm a dirty girl who needs a spanking" I'll know she' a dirty girl who needs a spanking. If Admiral Nobeard says "I'm a dirty girl who needs a spanking", I'll never know. I'll just bob my head in ignorance and look like a dumb-ass rocking put to a guy who wants someone to give his ass cheeks a good wallop.

I can't argue that the music is highly entertaining and probably their best album to date. If you love pirates or metal or pirate metal then go out and get this when it hits stores or pay an extra 10 bucks for the Import. They're still better than Alestorm.

8 out of 10 Sins.

Since they haven't released a video, or announced that a video is even going to be released, I thought I'd share with you all: Swashbuckle promoting Crime Always Pays. They're pretty brilliant.










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