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Death Alley, Superbia: How Hungry the Lions

Posted in Reviews on March 19th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

death alley superbia

Space punk, proto-metal, heavy progressive glam and enough hooks to get you from here to Alpha Centauri — it can only be the return of Amsterdam’s Death Alley, whose 2015 Tee Pee Records debut LP, Black Magick Boogieland (review here), was a lesson in the fine art of making “heavy” sound like a party you really want to go to. The four-piece toured consistently enough after the release that they wound up trading out their rhythm section — Sander Bus for Dennis Duijnhouwer on bass and the seems-to-be-everywhere-these-days Uno Bruniusson (also Black Salvation and Procession, ex-In Solitude) for Ming Boyer — a move that left vocalist Douwe Truijens and guitarist Oeds Beydals as the remaining founders. It is no small feat for a band to trade out half its lineup from one record to the next, but, now signed to Century Media, Death Alley‘s second collection, Superbia, shows they’ve done nothing but move forward as a result of the work they’ve put in the last three years.

With the creative percussiveness of Bruniusson propelling a telltale hook like “Feeding the Lions” and Bus adding low-end complement, Beydals and Truijens both absolutely shine in a number of contexts. Whether it’s the shimmer brought to the guitar in “Headlights in the Dark” or the rawer-but-still-melodic command of Truijens‘ vocals in the three-minute “Murder Your Dreams” (video premiere here), the pair find themselves in the forward position throughout the Pieter Kloos-helmed eight-track/50-minute effort, which is as powerful in its hooks as one could possibly hope on cuts like “The Chain,” “Feeding the Lions” and the aforementioned “Headlights in the Dark,” while retaining some experimentalist edge in the progressive melodies of the penultimate “Pilgrim” and a purposeful sense of exploration in extended opener “Daemon” (9:10) and closer “The Sewage” (11:37).

It’s nearly impossible to guess how much of any sonic shift has been brought on through personnel change as opposed to naturalist or purposeful growth of Death Alley‘s songwriting, but it’s palpable when one sits Superbia alongside anything prior in Death Alley‘s catalog, whether it’s last year’s Live at Roadburn (review here), which by its very nature would be more about capturing a raw performance, or Black Magick Boogieland, or their initial 2014 single, Over Under b/w Dead Man’s Bones (review here). Strength in songwriting remains firm and makes highlights of “Headlights in the Dark,” “Shake the Coil,” nine-minute opener “Daemon” and others, and the sense of energy that’s driven them since their beginning hasn’t diminished in the slightest, as “The Chain,” “Feeding the Lions” and “Murder Your Dreams” demonstrate plainly, but even on the latter track, which is as hard-edged as Death Alley get on Superbia, one can hear their focus has changed from raw impact to more deeper melodic arrangements and a deeper sense of atmosphere on the whole, as manifest in the lush chorus of “Pilgrim” and the all-consuming summary of “The Sewage” at the finale of the record — which finds Truijens singing about “psychic sewage”; about as clever a euphemism as I’ve heard for “shit for brains.”

death alley photo lupus lindemann

The central question is does it work, and the central answer is yes, but it means Death Alley are more complex in their intentions than even those who dug deep into Black Magick Boogieland‘s spacious closer, “Supernatural Predator,” might have suspected, because the purposeful sense they give from “Daemon” is that they’re not just picking up where they left off, but using their past as a launchpad to push even further out. That they get there is what ultimately makes Superbia such a success, never mind the band’s ability to tie together disparate ideas like the jammy build of “Daemon,” the straight-ahead thrust of “The Chain” and the near-gothic strum and keys of “Shake the Coil” — lest one forget that Pieter Kloos also produced fellow Netherlanders Dool, among many others — into one complete, flowing entirety. So not only are Death Alley more complex, but they’re more realized.

Given their time on the road, this isn’t necessarily surprising, but they’re also half a new band. Still, listen to the twisting first 40 seconds of “Pilgrim,” or the weirdo break that starts 5:10 into “Feeding the Lions,” or really every single second of “The Sewage,” which stomps and struts as much as it reaches into the cosmic ether — almost an answer to “Supernatural Predator,” but not quite aiming for the same goal. To wit, the progressive harmonies circa the three-minute mark are something I simply don’t think Death Alley would’ve attempted their last time out, and it’s worth noting that as they shift into the open midsection of the track via Bruniusson‘s crashes, residual noise and foreboding riffing from Beydals and Bus, it’s the guitar that comes to lead the charge through the “21st Century Schizoid Man”-esque chase, and into the jazzy movement that follows (though that’s not to take away from the snare work there, which is fantastic), and as “The Sewage” heads toward and past the eight-minute mark, it’s Beydals‘ solo that really seems to be doing the work of summarizing the album; extended, echoing, coated in effects, poised in a way but still delivered with vitality, it puts the emphasis on just how special a player he’s emerged here as being.

Truijens returns for repeated final lines and the closer more or less works its way toward a fading oblivion. To those who heard Black Magick Boogieland, no doubt Superbia will offer more than a few surprises, and it’s plain to see that was the band’s goal all along. What they’ve managed to do is put themselves on a trajectory of progression that’s both unexpected — not to say one didn’t anticipate evolution in their approach from their first to their second album, but there are a few genuine leaps here in Truijens‘ and Beydals‘ performances and in the depth of their craft overall — and richly satisfying, especially on well-earned repeat listens. If this growth was born of touring and the tumult the band has been through in the last couple years, they’ve emerged from same sounding stronger than ever and on their way to a maturity that one finds it easy to imagine will surprise even the band in terms of its breadth and sonic impact. When Death Alley gets where they’re going, watch your ass. Superbia is another crucial forward step along their way.

Death Alley, “Murder Your Dreams” official video premiere

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Death Alley Premiere “Murder Your Dreams” Video; Superbia Due March 23

Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 13th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

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Amsterdam-based heavy rockers Death Alley will release their second album, Superbia, March 23 as their debut on Century Media. The eight-track outing is rife with a progressive feel even beyond what the band brought to their 2015 Tee Pee Records first long-player, Black Magick Boogieland (review here), and no, I’m not just talking about the King Crimson-style chase scenes tucked into 11-minute closer “The Sewage.” It’s the whole record. Even as the opening push of “Daemon” seems to pick up where “Supernatural Predator” from the preceding full-length left off, it does so bringing together different sides of Death Alley‘s sound — the melody and the danger — the raw earth thrust and the outer space presence.

The four-piece have undergone a few changes death alley superbiasince Black Magick Boogieland, and even since they released Live at Roadburn (review here), vocalist Douwe Truijens and guitarist Oeds Beydals bringing in bassist Sander Bus and drummer Uno Bruniusson as their new rhythm section. No doubt that switch in personnel had a hand in the corresponding sonic shift, as it invariably would, but as the band’s new single and video “Murder Your Dreams” showcases, it’s still very much the art of crafting memorable songs that’s at the heart of what Death Alley does. With that as firmly established as it is in “Murder Your Dreams” and throughout Superbia from whence it comes, Death Alley can pretty much go wherever they like stylistically. And they do.

I’ll have more on the album closer to the release itself, but I’m thrilled today to be able to premiere the video for “Murder Your Dreams,” which you’ll find below, followed by quotes from the band and from director Luuk BouwmanDeath Alley also have tour dates booked throughout the coming months and Superbia is available to preorder at the portal in the links at the bottom of the post. Can’t miss it.

Please enjoy:

Death Alley, “Murder Your Dreams” official video premiere

DEATH ALLEY – Murder Your Dreams (OFFICIAL VIDEO). Taken from the album “Superbia”, out March 23rd, 2018.

Death Alley on “Murder Your Dreams”:

“‘Murder Your Dreams’ shows a side of our musicality that was always there but never revealed itself in our music before. Just when we needed it, The Wipers came knocking and we crushed them to bits. A bittersweet taste of Superbia in its most compact form.”

Director Luuk Bouwman on the video:

“The video is based on chase and falling dreams — which I felt would fit well with the song. I remembered a great scene in the Nightmare on Elm Street series in which the characters are stuck in a loop. So I wanted to create a nightmare-like slapstick in which the protagonist is condemned to keep falling, eternally. I was already joking that it was an autobiographical story and as if it was an ominous prophecy, a day after finishing the video I fell really hard on a bridge because of black ice. I broke my arm, cheekbone and eye socket. So last week I was in surgery to reconstruct my face.”

Death Alley live:
23-03 (DE) Cologne – Jungle (release show)
24-03 (DE) Münster – Alterna Festival
30-03 (NL) Amsterdam – SkateCafe (release show)
31-03 (NL) Schijndel – Paaspop
13-04 (NL) Eindhoven – Stroomhuis
14-04 (NL) Groningen – LOLA
26-04 (NL) Den Haag – Life I Live
28-04 (NL) Rotterdam – V11
04-05 (DE) Berlin – Desertfest
06-05 (UK) London – Desertfest
08-05 (FR) Paris – Gibus*
09-05 (FR) Nantes – Feraullier*
10-05 (ES) San Sebastian – Dabadaba*
11-05 (ES) Barcelona – Upload*
12-05 (FR) Clermont Ferrand – Camille Claudel*
13-05 (CH) Olten – Coq D’Or*
15-05 (DE) Leipzig – NATO*
16-05 (DE) Nürnberg – Stereo*
17-05 (DE) Dortmund – FZW*
18-05 (DE) Lohr am Main – Umsonst und Drinnen Festival*
19-05 (DE) Lichtenfels – Paunchy Cats*
26-05 (NL) Raalte – Dauwpop
02-06 (NL) Nijmegen – Fortarock

Superbia preorder portal

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