Captain Black Beard – S/T

With a name like Captain Black Beard I was fully expecting some
full-on, swashbuckling Pirate metal from this crew. This album though is
less “Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr” and more AOR. The Captain and crew have been
playing around the clubs of Stockholm for a couple of years and this is
their first release, so is it a hidden treasure or a bit of a scurvy
dog ?? ( sorry, last pirate pun, I promise )

‘Hey Man’ starts off things nicely with a good melodic guitar riff
which rocks along at a good pace and this really sets the tone for the
album in a good and a bad way. Throughout the album the band produce
some good music, but I felt that none of the tracks fully satisfied. 90%
of the time the song writing and playing are top class, but the tracks
lack that last 10% to move them from good to great. What they miss is a
killer chorus or hook, you wait with anticipation for the moment to
come, but the song bottoms out instead of soaring, these songs are two
or three chords away from being classics which is a real shame. I think
what holds things back a bit is vocalist Sakaria Bjorklund’s lack of
dynamic range which means that the songs have to stick to a fairly
narrow band as far as musical key is concerned. That is not to say that
Bjorklund is a bad singer, far from it, just that his limited range also
limits the band.

Tracks like ‘Don’t Turn Your Back On Love’ and ‘American Dreams’ are
well crafted and if melodic AOR is your bag, then these songs are
deserving of your attention. I have listened to Captain Black Beard
several times now and I do like the disc, I can’t help but feel though
that it could have been a melodic rock classic with a few killer hooks,
or should that be Captain Hooks…I’ll get my coat…

David Wilson

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Power Plays w/c 7 April 2025

SEVEN BLOOD To The Unknown (indie)
FROM FALL TO SPRING Incomplete (Arising Empire)
POP EVIL Side Effects (MNRK Heavy)
ERJA LYYTINEN Abyss (Tuohi Records)
SKY VALLEY MISTRESS Too Many Ghosts (New Heavy Sounds)
RED GIANT Free Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 7 April 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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