Christmas Album Review: Ye Banished Privateers – A Pirate Stole My Christmas (Napalm Records)

Yo ho ho… ho! Ye Banished Privateers deck the hulls with 11 swashbuckling Christmas shanties!

Wrapped in the swag of pirate folk rock, the newly interpreted, grim covers of beloved Christmas classics on A Pirate Stole My Christmas (out December 3, 2021 via Napalm Records) draw the listener into a dark underworld of blood and bones!

Yarrrr! Who says pirates and Christmas don’t go together? Ye Banished Privateers are here to show you that even a bunch of brigands can celebrate the festive season.

With their tongue jammed firmly in their cheeks and probably a little drunk on rum, Ye Banished Privateers are having some fun here. A Pirate Stole My Christmas combines classic Christmas songs with drunken swashbuckling antics. It’s a party on a slow-moving ship, one that is drifting through ice-flues and snowy weather. The booze is flowing, spirts are high, someone is likely to get a sword run through them at some point, but everyone is enjoying themselves.

The folksy antics are adorable, the genuine warm feeling of being part of an adventurous crew is significant and the amusing lyrical content entertains.

I wish you had many riches, so I could take them from you.

Ye Banished Privateers nail both the festive feel and the pirate comedy nicely. A great example is Twelve Days of Christmas that changes up the lyrical content to match what the captain gave the crew. All with a ‘live’ sense (it really does sound like you’re on an icy ship floating through a frozen landscape) and catchy folk-infused sound.

Credit to Ye Banished Privateers… they probably didn’t need to go to this length to change the classics in such a unique way. Whether it’s their version of Jingle Bells aka Ring the Bells or their version of Deck the Halls aka Deck and Hull. Little Drummer Boy being given new drunken life with Little Rummer Boy, the warmth of the bellows with their version of Carol of the Bells aka Carol of the Bellows and the best/worst version of Away in the Manger you’ll ever hear (Away in the Gutter).

It’s a blast. A rip-roaring cannonball to the hull. Fancy something different on the stereo this Christmas? You don’t get more different than this.

Ye Banished Privateers – A Pirate Stole My Christmas Full Track Listing:

1. Ring the Bells
2. It Came to Bloody Pass
3. Deck and Hull
4. Twelve Days of Christmas
5. Sulphur Ahoy
6. Little Rummer Boy
7. Oh Cannonball
8. Festival Days
9. Drawn and Quartered
10. Carol of Bellows
11. Away in the Gutter

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