In comparison to the melodic rock bands that I’m familiar with The Big Deal are a different brew, for one thing they have two female vocalists: Ana Nikolic and Nevena Brankovic who also plays keyboards and piano in the band. This band stands out as different to me because of the styles they fuse, The Big Deal remind me of a hybrid of H.E.A.T, Tokyo Motor Fist, ABBA, and Anette Olzon era Nightwish. They first introduced themselves to the world with a couple of those comparisons doing excellent covers on YouTube of Nightwish and ABBA, In addition to a great Europe cover.
First Bite starts out with a straight up energetic melodic rocker, first single “Never Say Never” is a fantastic hard rocking song I’ve listened to a ton since I first saw the music video, the interplay of awesome guitar playing and synths is mesmerizing and the song ends with beautiful piano playing courtesy of Nevena who is the album’s secret weapon in my opinion, Her Keyboard and piano playing is a real highlight of this album.
“I need you here tonight” leans a little more into their symphonic metal influence and features some great driving guitars, atmospheric synths, and soaring vocals around the chorus. “Sensational” is another single from the album which really encompasses the varied different influences in their sound and fuses them perfectly, Ana and Nevena vocally compliment each other perfectly and shine when each is singing solo. for those wondering who is vocally who: Ana sings in the slightly lower register and Nevena sings slightly higher. the classical piano style playing over the guitars just dances through the song and it’s mesmerizing, this song is pure ear candy.
“Top Heaven” is a straight ahead rocker that falls somewhere between H.E.A.T and Danger Danger, had this song been released in the 80s it probably would’ve ended up on a soundtrack, it’s energetic and exciting. “Wake the fire” slows the tempo a bit but the melody and vocals balance very well. “In the dead of the night” maintains the pace with another mid tempo, semi- symphonic metal meets hard rock song with an excellent guitar solo. “Rebel Lady” reminds me a of Tokyo Motor Fist, good mid tempo 80s style melodic rock. “Power on” goes into Iron Maiden territory, this song just charges at you and rocks!
Digging deeper “Bad times, Good times” is another mid tempo song and is elevated by great vocals from both Ana and Nevena, the melodies in this song are excellent as well. “Fallen” is kind of musically all over the place to be honest, but has great vocals throughout, a great chorus, and a great guitar solo. “Lady of the night” leans back into H.E.A.T territory and has some cool Spanish guitar playing in the middle of the song.
The level of talent in this band is impressive and First Bite is a great debut album, there is melody for days. Ana and Nevena are a fantastic vocal duo and with the calibur of musical performances that the band provides on First Bite you really have to have good singing or it would sink the album. Srdjan Brankovic is an impressive guitarist who excels in both his rhythm and lead playing, and Nevena’s keys really add some extra sophistication to this album. This is a great start for a talented band, I’m excited to see how their sound progresses in the years to come.
7/10