The album was recorded at Krabi Road, Thailand with producer Lasse Lammert in January 2020. The album was mixed and mastered LSD Studios in Lübeck, Germany in February 2020. Speaking about the lyrics in the album, lead vocalist Christopher Bowes stated:
I think on this album it comes across pretty clearly in a lot of lyrics that we don’t care what people think. We know there’s loads of people out there who love what we’re doing. So if you hate it, we really do not care because we do what we want to do and it’s working for us.
Composition
Like previous Alestorm albums, Curse of the Crystal Coconut has been described as pirate metal, power metal, folk metal, heavy metal, and hard rock. In a review of the album, Exclaim! considered "Treasure Chest Party Quest," "Fannybaws" and "Pirate's Scorn" " some of the hookiest choruses in the band's catalogue." While describing the song "Treasure Chest Party Quest," Outburn stated, "the fact that the song emerges from behind a veil of 80s cock rock with the usual folk metal adjunct and a bellowing metalcore vocal staccato is an indication from the off that Alestorm is flirting with reinvention and doing it as absurdly as imaginable." Outburn also described the song “Wooden Leg Part 2 ” as "an eight minute, multi-faceted take on prog metal storytelling accented by mournful thrash, symphonic blackness à la Bal-Sagoth and even smidges of death metal. They even described “Call of the Waves” as 'the band’s most serious moment of its career." Metal Injection notes thrash-like riffs on the songs "Chomp Chomp" and "Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship". The song "Tortuga" has been described as pop/rap metal because of the rap verse by Captain Yarrface. The song "Pirate's Scorn" is a version of a song that appeared in the Donkey Kong Country animated series, from the episode "Booty and the Beast".
Release
On 8 January 2020, the band announced the title of their sixth studio album, "Curse of the Crystal Coconut," to be released in the summer of 2020. The band later announced that the album would be released on 29 May 2020. On 2 April 2020, the band released the first single from the album titled, "Treasure Chest Party Quest". On 23 April 2020, the band released the second single from the album titled, "Tortuga" featuring Captain Yarrface. On 14 May 2020, the band released the third single from the album titled, "Fannybaws". On 29 May 2020, the band released the fourth single from the album titled, "Pirate Metal Drinking Crew". The band also did a giveaway for an people who preordered the album. With the giveaway, the winner would get an Alestorm-branded Nintendo 64 along with a copy of Donkey Kong 64.
Reception
Curse of the Crystal Coconut received generally positive reviews from critics. Jason Roche of Blabbermouth.net called the album "another indicator that the secret behind the band's longevity is their stellar knack for never letting the overall themes drown out the catchiness of their song-craft." In a positive review, Alan Faulkner of Distorted Sound stated, "the lyrics may be silly and some of the songs are a bit out there, but that is what Alestorm are about – having fun and enjoying the music." Manus Hopkins of Exclaim! gave the album a positive review stating, "it's incredible that Alestorm haven't run out of pirate riffs and lyrics about drinking, pillaging and sailing the seas, but this record is packed with all those and even more." Holly Wrigh of Metal Hammer called the album "another gem in the Scots’ steadily improving repertoire of jolly, foul-mouthed metal shanties that go far beyond the confines of gimmickry." Max Morin, writing for Metal Injection, was also positive, calling " another killer addition to a packed roster and is dying to be played lived." Mike Elfers of Punknews called the album "eleven tracks of their signature pirate metal" and recommended it to "anyone that likes drinking and/or fun." Metal Storm called the album an improvement "on the uneven songwriting that made No Grave But the Sea a modest disappointment..."
“Pirate’s Scorn” is a cover of a song from the Donkey Kong Country animated series.
Deluxe version
The deluxe version of the album includes the normal track listing, along with what is referred to as "16th Century Version" editions of each track afterwards. These are 8-bit styled recreations of the tracks with bitcrushed vocals.
The Wooden Box set included two bonus tracks on a 7" Single which are "Big Ship Little Ship" and "Bassline Junkie". However singer Christopher Bowes said on a live stream Listening Party on Napalm Records YouTube channel that these two songs along with other bonus tracks from past Alestorm albums will be released on Spotify some point in the future.
Kaelhakase & Tatsuguchi - vocals on "Wooden Leg Pt. 2 "
Ally Storch - violins
Patty Gurdy - vocals on "Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship" and hurdy gurdy on "Chomp Chomp", "Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship", "Call of the Waves", "Henry Martin", and "Big Ship Little Ship"
