The label in the center of both sides of Death Alley‘s debut 7″, Over Under b/w Dead Man’s Bones, is grooved. It looks like if you were to put the needle there, past the songs themselves, something would play. I haven’t tried it, I guess because it seems like a stupid way to break your record player, but I take it as a sign that the Amsterdam four-piece — which features former members of Mühr and The Devil’s Blood — have more to say than they’ve seen fit to offer with the two tracks on the single itself. More to come, in other words. That may or may not be the case, but either way, the proto-punk-fueled loud rockers make a raucous entry on this debut, not even stopping for a breath along the way in either “Over Under” or “Dead Man’s Bones,” but peppering the rush with some heavy rock groove all the same. Their sound is natural, and the style is retro, though they avoid the trap of reinterpreting ’71-’74 boogie via Graveyard by going further into punk and pre-thrash, resulting in a sound that’s full of movement but less derivative than some of Death Alley‘s history-minded contemporaries.

For a relatively new band who just got their start last year, they know where they’re coming from, and their self-descriptor, “protopunk with a hint of psychedelics,” proves accurate across this single, which tops just over eight minutes. That’s not necessarily the whole story though, because while there’s an underlying swirl to “Over Under” and the song rounds out with some surprising vocal harmonies in a still-full-throttle bridge before returning to the winding style of the main riff to close, surely enough giving the impression of Death Alley aiming for more than just the place where neo-heavy fuzz and traditional punk rock meet. More than anything, “Over Under” is a feverish rush, and on the flip side, “Death Man’s Bones” takes that even further into distinct Motörheadery, capturing well that moment where gritty metal began to move away from heavy rock and punk and into something new. “Over Under”‘s parts flowed easily, but “Dead Man’s Bones” is more occupied with shred-topped chaos, though a tempo downshift in the second half brings more vocal intricacy and a swaggering guitar solo. Once again, there’s more going on with Over Under b/w Dead Man’s Bones than Death Alley are keen to show on the surface.

Ván Records has the single coupled with a Death Alley poster, and the band is set to play Roadburn‘s official pre-show, the Hard Rock Hideout, on Wednesday, April 9, in Tilburg, so it seems reasonable to expect more to come from the nascent Dutch outfit. As forewarning, their debut single rings loud and clear while hinting at future intrigue.

Death Alley, Over Under b/w Dead Man’s Bones (2014)

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Death Alley at Ván Records