THE BIG DEAL – First Bite

I seem to recall having come across The Big Deal earlier on when they uploaded some rather entertaining and cool cover renditions of ABBA and Europe to YouTube, and I had no idea that they had an album on the way, so this was a rather cool surprise. The Serbian act also includes Frontiers Records’ in-house songwriter/musician/producer Alessandro del Vecchio in its ranks, but that is of little interest when the group’s strength is undoubtedly the two female vocalists, Ana Nikolic and Nevena Brankovic, whose voices and styles complement each other superbly and make it stand out compared to so many other similar-sounding releases that are out there.

Musically speaking, this is AOR/hard rock/melodic rock that offers neither surprises nor anything groundbreaking, but there is no shortage of hooks and infectious vocal melodies on the disc, and the somewhat slick and glossy sheen of it all fits like a glove. Heck, even the guitar solos are catchy here. The songs are rather straightforward in terms of their structures and arrangements, but the excellent vocals make this a satisfying and memorable listening experience while the keyboards add atmospherics and layers to the compositions in a creative manner at times. A promising debut and a good slab of melodically rich rock music performed by capable musicians. There is plenty of ear candy here, folks. Just steer clear of the dreadful tune titled “Rebel Lady” and you should be fine.