Reprobates

‘The Steam Arm Man’, which opens this new set from the rock’n’ceilidh barnstormers from York, sports a Black Sabbath-style riff tottering on its bloody stumps to propel a tale of a veteran of Waterloo bringing havoc from boudoir to bar-room with his new steam-powered arm. It's a wild-eyed opener to a distinctive set from the Blackbeard crew, whose previous, 2011's Tomorrow We’ll be Sober and 2013's Whip Jamboree, set the bar for a raucous riot squad of sounds.

The shades of Sabbath and Deep Purple, as well as mid-70s Steeleye Span or early Fairport Convention, are all evident, but this crew are masters and commanders of their own ship, and the mix of Martin Coumbe's crunchy guitar and Laura Boston-Barber's flying fiddle on tune-sets like ‘Hangman's Noose’ are especially good.

Further in, there are tales of bad men such as William Kidd and the royal executioner Jack Ketch alongside the Jacobean class-war battle cry of ‘Stand Up Now’ and the harsh transportation ballad ‘Roll Down’. Visceral, rough and sharp and with a backcloth of retro-rock to swing from the rafters with, Blackbeard's Tea Party have delivered another haul of valuable booty.