DEATH ALLEY comes to us from Amsterdam, Holland, in order to bring something different to the table. "Black Magick Boogieland" is their debut album, released a few months ago. Their music stands on the thin line between Hard Rock, Punk and Heavy or even Thrash Metal. The sound of their music is very special, and the genre they are creating is not something to be heard very often. It's fun, simple and yet interesting and basically - just something you'll all want to head-bang to.

When the music started with the song "Over Under" I had a great feeling about this album. The guitars sounded awesome and the entire vibe of the beginning was of something extremely worth listening to. My expectations got higher, almost too high, because when the vocals entered, it all crashed. First of all, the sound that the lead singer had attempted to make was way too trashy for the Heavy sounding guitars. That part was sufferable, mostly since by the third song, "Bewildered Eyes", it got much better. The annoying squeaky and dirty sound was replaced for a much more appropriate distorted sound. The thing that truly changed the way I feel about this album was, without a doubt, the terrible balance between the instruments. True, the guitars were probably the best part in this not too bad of a band, but they were all I heard. The vocals were distant and in a very low volume relative to all other instruments. The drums were also not high enough, but it was bearable. The saddest part about this poor balance was the missing bass. For a short part in the song "Golden Fields Of Love" I was able to hear a cute bass line that has rapidly vanished behind those guitars.

A surprising twist of that poor balance was right in the beginning of the song "Dead Man's Bones". Not great, but much better than before. This one is a fast fun song that is exactly right with what they are doing. DEATH ALLEY are making fun and fast Heavy metal that simply makes you want to jump. The guitars are fast and featuring some great riffs and solos. All other parts of the band are supporting this one awesome part. The saddest part of this review is that they have such great potential! They can do great things if only they could find the right mixer. Other than that, this album is a very good one and is absolutely suitable for when you have that jumpy mood for headbanging.  <