THE DEEP – Premonition (CD)

With their roots in bands such as Deep Machine and Airrace, new UK melodic metal rockers The Deep take their first step with the debut Premonition. I was truly blown away by their down to earth, classic melodic hard rock, with the roots in the 80s NWOBHM era. By coincidence, just recently purchased the High Roller release of the old Deep Machine demos. They kicked ass back then and I love that stuff, but I have to say, I actually like The Deep even better. Maybe it’s the maturity of Tony Coldham’s beautiful voice, the years of honing their musical craftsmanship or simply the songs that sits better today. They actually featured a re-recording of the old 1982 demo track Saga. In that case it’s not the latter, but probably the better recording and the band that has become better. Great version! When I learned The Deep was ex-Deep Machine I was actually a bit worried since I saw a recent video of the band with quite horrible vocals, but I guess there are two camps out there (not that uncommon these days). This camp clearly takes the prize in my book. Anywayz… Premonition kicks off with classic NWoBHM style rocker The Rider, a bit reminiscent of early Samson meets Raven. Timeless metal! You Take My Breath Away kicks off as a classic metal number, but goes into a Praying Mantis style melodic rocker with nice harmony vocals. Ok, I’ve mentioned some other bands here, but The Deep definitely have their own sound. I’m totally blown away by Tony Coldham’s fantastic vocals, strong, powerful and clear! Night-Stalker is another track that could have been (was?) written in the early 80s with it’s classic plodding guitar riff. I love it! Cold-Hearted shows a slightly different side, with its almost Lillian Axe style heavy power balladry. A really cool song indeed! I won’t go into each track, but there’s not one single weak track! 10 tracks, you don’t need more. 10 great tracks makes you long for the next album already! Highly recommended!

Janne Stark

Label: private

Country: UK

Year: 2015

Link: http://www.thedeepuk.band/