After a period relentless touring and turmoil, the Dutch powerhouse Death Alley is re-invented, reborn, and ready to take on the world with their refined brand of infectious yet challenging rock n’ roll with their new album ‘Superbia’.
This albums starts with a slow burning intensity akin to Tool or Neurosis, which is at the least is an effective way to set the tone, as if you know Death Alley’s previou work it does make one wonder where exactly this album is going and if this opener sets the tone for the whole record. Which is doesn’t, as second track The Chain gives way into a charging track that sounds like it could have been lifted straight out of the 80’s and the new wave of british heavy metal. It smacks of Maiden and Priest, while bringing something new to the table which is inherebtly hard to pin down. Especially as this segues yet again into a prog metal odyssey on track three, Feeding The Chain.
”This album is very much about being able to, and having the courage to, break with burdens from the past and accepting, facing and going through the struggle towards a distant or future sun”, says singer Douwe Truijens. ”Where ‘Black Magick Boogieland’ is the invitation to a parallel universe of the unknown, this one is about what you get when you accept the invite.”
”We have this polarity of having a hardcore and punk background, and moving from that into more psychedelic and sometimes even prog-ish territory. We always try to play with a primal soul, but also execute it with a somewhat classical precision”, says guitarist Oeds.
The one thing that stands out above all else is that this album is exactly that, an album. Despite crossing so many styles in it’s progress, it at at no point becomes the collection of songs that so many half arsed bands turn is albums these days. Superbia is one to bask in, multiple listens all the way through. Take some time with it and you shall be rewarded.
Personal highlight would be Headlights In The Dark with it’s Filthy Kyuss bassline and Pilgrim, wandering through 70’s psychedelia with glorious solos drenched in reverb and delay and chanted vocal delivery.
Superbia marks a big step forward for the quartet – spiritually, but also technically. Produced by Pieter “Pidah” Kloos (The Devil’s Blood, Motorpsycho, DOOL), the new tracks are some of the most demanding the band’s ever written and worthy of further study.
‘Superbia’ is out now on Century Media
