On a recent road trip, I was literally telling my wife how I was wanting another Jaldaboath album, as the band had seemingly gone dark after 2010 Rise of the Heraldic Beasts, one of my very favorite albums form that year. Well, lo and behold Grand Master Jaldabaoth, via the sorcery of email sent me the new album out of the blue, and by Nursie’s sweet bosom  it is ridiculously, silly fun.

My only teeny gripe with Rise…. was that it seemed to have some left over The Meads of Asphodel (Grand Master Jaldaboath’s former band) darker,  black metal moments and they seemed out of place amid the humorous  likes of the “Axe Wielding Nuns ” and “Bash the Bishop” . However, on The Further Adventures…., any premise of the prior band has been dropped on full favor of the bands self anointed ‘Heraldic Templar metal’ or “Renaissance Rock’ and the whole album is essentially one long Monty Python/Black Adder skit put to ridiculous catchy, throbbing,  thrash/folk metal, replete with crumm horns and oodles of other flutey, hey nonny nonny, Renn faire styled synths.

If you enjoyed the aforementioned likes of “Hark the Herald”, then you will love this album, as the entire album has that that cheeky, catchy pace and writing. Opener “Roland the Farter” is as catchy as it is funny, being this albums equivalent to'”Hark the Herald” with a raucous chorus you will find your self singing (as well as my new ring tone). Then Alestorm’s Christopher Bowes delivers guest vocals for “Warrior Monks of White Hawk”, a righteous thrasher. Then the goofiness level is raised to Percy and Baldrick levels with “The Bitch of Chiselhurst Caves”. I DARE you not to be singing the sausage -y chorus from this riotously raunchy anthem (featuring a nod to disco hit ‘”White Lines”). Another early standout is “Raise the Crummhorns” with a great little self deprecating atmospheric bridge featuring Jan Hammer’s “Crockett’s Theme” from Miami Vice. Brill.

And speaking of other references, astute listeners will hear the band’s not so subtle nods or piss takes of Bal Sagoth, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” (The Wailing Witch of Moulsecoomb”) and Iron Maiden‘s “The Trooper”(“Dex the Whispering Dwarf”). But  as with “Jaldaboth” from the last album using the theme from British children’s show Rent a ghost, even more astute  and likely British listeners will recognize riffs and choruses that cull from some classic British TV like the Black Adder the Third and Black Beauty themes (Black Metal Beauty”), Eastenders theme (‘The Wailing Witch of Moulsecoomb”), 80s kid’s show Wizbit (“Dex the Whispering Dwarf”) a as well as a a few classical and pop culture references as some I’m sure I missed.  Heck, on top of the Miami Vice sample, the band even throws in the theme from 80s classic TV show Airwolf (“Dex the Whispering Dwarf”) and uses the theme from The A Team to drive uproarious closer “The J team”. Me thinks Grand Master Jaldaboath is more of  a child of the 1980s, not the 1380s. But all of it is wrapped in simply great catchy metal and Renn  faire instrumentation, it’s not just gimmicks.

Much like British humor displayed by Monty Python and Black Adder, Jaldaboath will be a decidedly acquired taste and certainly appeal to those familiar with some of the very British references (many of the songs are actually based on British historical figures, legends and locations). So if you are one of those humorless metal fans with a constant grimace and crossed arms,  The Further Adventures of...isn’t for you-it’s very silly indeed. For the rest of us, this might be the most fun you have with an album in 2014.

[Visit the band's website]

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