The Deep "Watching You" (2018)

1) Prepare To Rock

2) Dead Man Walking

3) Watching You

4) Taking Over

5) Premonition (live)

6) The Rider (live)

7) All I Want (live)

8) Night-Stalker (live)

Self-released

Show business can be a really weird thing. Labels line up to re-release some demos of an obscure and long gone NWOBHM band but ignore new releases of experienced bands like The Deep.

«Watching You» is the second release of the band which consists of Tony Coldham (vocals), Paul Smith, Mick Feleppa (both are guitarists), Phil Reeve (bass) and the recent addition to the band — Alan Mogg (drums). The story of the band you may find in the interview we did withTony so let’s talk about the EP.

I had mixed feelings before the music hit my ears: would the band be able to deliver something as incredible as was their debut album “Premonition” (2016)? Do they still have some tricks up their sleeves? Well, let’s put it straight — yes! The new stuff sounds awesome, catchy and fresh! It’s still melodic hard rock/heavy metal in the best manner of Hughes-Turner Project, Joe Lynn Turner’s solo records like “Slam”, Praying Mantis and Michael Schenker Fest to some degree. Three of the four songs are rocking numbers full of energy, melodies, biting solos and soaring vocal lines and harmonies. The title track is a slightly different animal — a darker song with a creepy feeling that someone is standing behind your back which is what the songs is about. The lyrical content of the studio tracks despite their positive melodies touches some thorny subjects like victims of the terrorist attack in France, standing for your rights or being a toy in hands of politicians.

As for live versions of the songs from “Premonition” they sound nice. You can hear that the band was on heat the evening they recorded the songs. Hats off to the band for leaving all the bloopers here. This makes live versions of “The Ride” or “All I Want” (very Dio-esque track!) honest and give you a good impression about The Deep in action.

This release can be recommended to every fan of heavy metal. Those who already know The Deep won’t be disappointed and for those who are still unfamiliar with the band it  will be a very pleasant discovery.

And yes — labels (not only underground but “big guns” like Frontier Records) should think of what their A&R agents are doing.

The Deep on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheDeepUK/

The Deep's official website - http://www.thedeepband.co.uk