In the world of metal, there are more sub genres than models in a General Motors showroom.
Progressive metal, pop metal, power metal, shock rock, industrial metal, stoner metal, death metal, nu metal, grindcore and metalcore being performed around the world.
Thanks to Lethbridge native Walt Fleming and his band Verbal Deception, pirate metal has its own southern metal practitioners.
Verbal Deception started flying the pirate metal flag when Fleming, guitarist/vocalist Kresho Klarich and their old drummer Taylor Pierce were rehearsing in a Lethbridge basement while still attending high school four years ago.
Fleming, a keyboardist related to Lethbridge’s Kaufmann family, was experimenting with a new patch called the Bandoneon, which simulates the sound of an accordion-like instrument first developed in Germany in the 1800s and used in tango music.
Pierce made a comment the music sounded like pirate metal and soon they wrote one of their first songs, 'Pirate Attack', around that theme.
Since then, several members have come and gone, including bassist Terry Baldwin, who performed on Verbal Deception’s recently released disc, Aurum Aetus Piraticus. Baldwin, who returned to his old band Caveat, has since been replaced by Matt Petti.
Verbal Deception has created a whole pirate theme, including its own coat of arms.
Fleming, who was 14 and an aspiring filmmaker when he left Lethbridge for Calgary with his mother, had only developed a passion for metal two years before he helped found Verbal Deception.
At the time, he was listening to a lot of folk metal, particularly Helsinki band Finntroll.
Now 19, Fleming is an accomplished player whose progressive keyboard sounds give the music an almost Yes-like sound.
Verbal Deception’s music blends gypsy and Arabian melodies with progressive keyboards, driving guitars and gutteral vocals. It’s an intriguing mix of sounds and Verbal Deception’s musicianship make their debut an incredibly strong album.
Recorded at Sundae Sound Studios in Calgary, Aurum Aetus Piraticus sounds like the work of veteran metalheads, not guys in their late teens and early 20s. It is currently at No. 1 on Lethbridge’s CKXU 88.3 FM loud chart.
The album took more than a year and a half to write.
“Every time we came up with an idea, we played it until we were bored and made revisions,” Fleming recalled.
The album is currently available at Blueprint Entertainment in Lethbridge.
The music has taken the band to the U.S. where it recently played Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago.
“The reception was great,” says Fleming.
The band is planning a tour of Ontario and Quebec with dates perhaps in B.C. and want to hit a few European festivals next year.