Pirates have been spread wafer-thin in the post-Jack Sparrow era, but Sunken Chest manages to feel like the real deal, rocking the ship with distortion-heavy sea ballads, double-entendres about cannon balls and tales of knife-wielding monkeys, surly wenches and high-seas hijinks. It’s surprisingly funny and undeniably catchy.

Few bands embody "pirate core" so pefectly as Sunken Chest. Their debut album features various tunes that seamlessly blend rock club instrumentals with period(ish) pirate lyrics. While not remotely historically accurate, the resulting music lends the impression that it is what historical pirates WOULD have listened to, given the opportunity. The album begins and ends with two of its slowest - and strongest - songs. Come All 'ye Maties is a gentle salute to sailors, pirates, and all the various things that make us love our colorful subculture. It's a warm and gripping ballad, makes an exceptional opening track, and is easily one of my favorites. Closing the album is Pirate Flag. Every bit as well done as Come All 'ye Maties, it seems the perfect song for joining your fellow pirates in the pub after a long hard day of skewering Spaniards. Throughout both these tracks the instrumentals are slow and genuine. The vocals are easy on the ears, yet just scratchy enough to sound rough and piratey. The middle tracks of the album - and therefore the majority of the CD - are faster paced and more aggressive in tone. All are very fun, and overwhelmingly pirate in content. ... Stowaway is highly enegized and catchy. The guitar work is heroic, yet it doesn't overshadow the vocals about rum, barnacles, and other piratey references. The next song, Monkey Knife fight, well... [ahem], pardon me a moment... Yes. Yes! YES!!! A song about monkeys! And knives! And tequila and ring-tailed lemurs! IloveitIloveitIloveit!!! Ok, I'm back now. This song rocks. And it has monkeys. And knives. Yar. The one song I've not yet mentioned is the titular track, Sunken Chest. Being that it carries the same name as the band and the album, it's fitting that it continues in a similar vein as the rest of the CD, but with an additional sense of fun injected. The refrain is fantastic for singing along to, and the lyrics do a fine job of introducing the band with some bragadocio, but without sounding pretentious. This song makes me long to see these guys play a live show. Sunken Chest is a first-rate pirate-core band, no doubt about it. And their album is very good. ... the lyrics are fun and piratey, the guitar and drum work is exeptional throughout. The guitars in particular carry that exceedingly rare trait of being able to sound somewhat piratey (how a guitar can sound piratey is beyond me, but sometimes, it just does.) And excellent pirate album.