David Alpha releases Rockin’ Roulette

David Alpha releases Rockin’ Roulette

David Alpha is a man of many faces; from sojourning blues/punk man, to underground rock n’ roller to a part of many bands that we may yet to have heard from… the man has walked both sides of life.  Recently completing college and getting back into the music scene (after hard years of recording and touring on smaller circuits), the vocalist/instrumentalist is placing full focus on his solo recordings.  He’s got a double-dose of compilation albums prepared and these tracks come from the first one, the one that is supposed to include “lighter songs” though with the fury and fear present, you’d be hard pressed to know which side of his law that you’re on.

Alpha’s tunes on this promotional EP Rockin’ Roulette are culled from a full-length record called Sacrilege 2.0.  Based on the energy of the music present on this brief release, there’s some absolute hot lava flowing across that release.  “Sacrilege” opens things up and it’s everything you’d hope a song named about religious defilement would be.  With songwriting and musical help from one time Dead Kennedy’s East Bay Ray, the riffs and abandon fly at a fever pace; pulsating rhythm patterns doing their due diligence while the drumming takes a mind of its own.  There’s groove to spare and lyrics basically about taking no mouth and no word from those that tell you that you’re living life wrong.  It’s a great song with an adolescent’s heart and a grown man’s rage, the split making for something that is consistently catchy but with the feeling of danger present throughout.

On the more introspective side is “Jeans” and it’s got an easy, riding flow to the way the music unfolds.  The guitars are loud, distorted but, with a sense of restraint and melody that the 70s rock forefathers would have used.  Alpha is obviously in tune with the vintage masters as much as he is the beasts that have made “punk rock” such a heathen battle cry.  The rhythms move quickly, swiftly to point where the 6-strings can unleash pent up anger and pain as his vocals paint out a deeper relationship that’s gone sour.  Lyrically, a sort of hangdog, broken down on life viewpoint is juxtaposed with love and trying to find a way forward.  It’s an interesting and heartfelt ideal that is perfectly balanced by the words and music.

Everything you hear on this EP is an authentic repetition of music and life as it’s meant to be heard.  The lyrics talk tough.  The music doesn’t relent and you know it’s crossed that path.  David Alpha is truly like a lost, yet not forgotten, enigma; he comes and goes as he pleases but he is still in it for the power of the music.

BANDCAMP: https://davidalpha.bandcamp.com/album/rockin-roulette

Michael Rand