DEEP, THE

„Watching You“
(Heavy Metal)

Wertung: recommended

VÖ: coming soon!

Label: Eigenproduktion

Webseite: Facebook

Tony Coldham asked if I would be interested in receiving the new EP by his Band THE DEEP and I said „I would love to“ (Sorry Tony, couldn’t write more as it was 6 o’clock in the morning!). As the latest releases by the band („Demo„, 2013 and „Premonition„, 2015) were all superb I was looking forward the new songs as well as for the live recordings.

And what can I say? The new EP, called „Watching you“ is a hell of a record! If you’re DEEPly in love with some Heavy Metal / NWoBHM forged in the fires of late 1970s, early 1980s, you’ll be happy to get your hands on this one!

Well, as I’m not the smartest guy in the universe I have to repeat what I said in the earlier reviews: if you discover the DEEP, you’ll get more PURPLE than in the last 25 years. Tonys voice reminds me so much of Ian Gillian (in good shape) that to me it’s obvious. Hey, I love DEEP PURPLE so much that you can take it as a compliment. He’s full of energy like a twen and sounds this mature that you respectfully nod your head when he asks you to be prepared for rock or tells you that the world is gone insane. Authenticity, baby.

Paul Smith and Mick Feleppa are not like Ritchie Blackmore … to follow my DEEP PURPLE driven or obsessed thoughts. They are his cousins who, while Monsineur Blackmore is sipping some hand picked wine from his castle ground, open a can of beer, gobble it down in one gulp and smash the cans on each others forehead. And after that they are firing some fine riffs and solos from their guitars to get you in the mood to have a beer yourself. Heavy fuckin‘ Metal, baby.

Well, the drummer Alan Mogg. Phew. I’m simply overwhelmed by his playing. It’s kind of hard finding some great drummers who are not only abused as a human metronome. OK, should I come up with the name Ian Paice here? No, I shouldn’t. What Alan delivers on the opening track „Prepare to rock“ is quite unique … he forces the band and the song in a so powerful direction that it should be the opener for every show these guys will ever play. The fills and energy you get by the drumming … well, I haven’t experienced it for quite a while. Maybe „Painkiller“ was the last song that made me feel this way … and that’s 28 years ago, dudes.

Last but not least we have Phil Reeve on bass guitar. It’s always hard for a journalist (or whatever guys like me can be called) to write about bass players. You take them for granted and mostly they are the lost child, except if you’re Geezer Butler or Roger Glover. BUT turn down the bass volume on your stereo and you’ll see what’s left („… and justice for all“, for example). But Phil delivers some outstanding bass lines and together with Alan it’s him who keeps it all going.

Well, the songs … „Prepared to rock“, I already mentioned it, is a fuckin‘ blast. On this one the strength of every individual member is multiplied by 10 and the songwriting is simply brilliant.

„Dead Man Walking“ slows down a bit but is still pounding and full of energy. The vocal lines on the bridge are awesome and again it’s a song to remember.

„Watching you“ … in the beginning it sounds like a ballad (and I’m not very keen about ballads) but then it turns into something dark and intense. Tonys voice gets in a darker mood and I really love to hear this variety.

„Taking over“ is coming around faster again and I can say that it’s another great song, with a great solo.

If the guys would tell you that these four songs would be the best they have, I would totally agree. Every second is flawless! And as four fantastic new songs were not enough you get four live recordings. „Premonition“, „The Rider“, „All I want“ and „Night-Stalker“ were recorded (with Fraser Powell on drums) at the British Steel Festival in France in 2016 and they sound awesome. And listening to them I cross my fingers that some day these guys will come down to Germany to play a lot of shows to show us how it’s done right.

Honestly, this is just bloody great! I recommend „Watching you“ to everyone: the old chaps who follow THE DEEPs path for a while as we get some awesome new tracks and to the new crowd who, besides the great new songs get an overview of what they did on „Premonition“.

So if you’re into the hard-hitting, non-psychedelic DEEP PURPLE stuff and the strong riffs of SAXON and you like Heavy Metal in general and the NWoBHM in particular this one is for YOU. Unfortunately I can’t offer you a song or video yet but keep watching the guys Facebook-page … I’m pretty sure that something awesome is coming soon!

And listening to this I really don’t understand that no label in the world gets their hand on this fantastic band to give them the attention they deserve. (chris)