Fred Phillips’ Best of 2022 includes Zeal & Ardor, Whiskey Mysters, Arch Enemy, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row, among others.

Alestorm’s pirate ship has been righted and is back on course.

For the first time ever I leave an Alestorm album not with a big grin and a desire to hoist the Jolly Roger, but actually kind of bummed.

It’s not until you actually start combing through the hundreds of records you’ve listened to over a decade that you realize how daunting the task really is.

If you pull your kid out of school and drive five hours to see Alestorm and Gloryhammer at a club, you may have a metal problem. It was more than worth it.

It was, honestly, a pretty lousy year for music. This list of Best Metal, Country and Hard Rock of 2017 highlights five exceptions, and some key honorable mentions.

Frankly, not a lot of music has excited me through the first half of this year. That is, until Alestorm’s ‘No Grave But the Sea’ arrived.

Fred Phillips’ Best of 2014 list for hard rock and metal albums includes Judas Priest, Down, Alestorm, Grand Magus, Anti-Mortem and others.

Alestorm honed their cutlasses to a razor-sharp point on ‘Sunset on the Golden Age.’

Will Alestorm’s pirate metal schtick ever get old? Man, I hope not.