Deever - You Need This (2019)

Country: UK
Style: Hard Rock
Rating: 8/10
Release Date: 1 Feb 2019
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I'm loving the feedback I'm getting from readers and one suggestion that came out of my Inglorious review was to seek out the forthcoming Deever album. That's not a random suggestion, by the way, as Deever was founded and is led by Billy Taylor, who was the rhythm guitarist on the first two Inglorious albums, though he left a couple of years before everyone else.

Beyond Nathan James's ego, it's clear from this album that he had other reasons to leave Inglorious, not least that the sound he was looking for is very different.

Without casting aspersions on the various able musicians who have worked Inglorious, that's very much a band led by its singer, from whose vocals everything else is built. Deezer are a band led by its musicians, with the guitars of Taylor and Stevie Stoker front and center on almost everything and the bass of Phil Appleton occasionally taking over too.

That means that songs are songs rather than showcases and the singer here is Taylor himself, who stepped up to the microphone when forming Deezer. He's a decent singer, albeit one whose voice isn't ever going to lead him onto a TV talent show. I'd suggest that Foo Fighters didn't just influence Deezer's music but their approach too. Nobody listens to the Foo Fighters primarily for Dave Grohl's voice but it does the precise job it needs to do and it helps the songs, just as Taylor's does here.

Oddly, my favourites generally aren't the singles, which began with the opener, Fire at Will, then progressed through All Come Running to Alright and now include Only Enemy too. They're all good songs, but they're not the catchiest here. All Come Running is the pick of those four for me, with its patient melody and a catchy and driving bass riff that leads the track not just the intro, something that we don't hear too often nowadays.

To my thinking, Waves is the standout of the album. It's a punchy track that immediately takes a hold of the inside of your skull and progresses with a punk pop pace that'll have fans bouncing throughout. It's also a great example of the teamwork the band has. The drums and backing vocals are most obvious here but the bass makes itself heard too and the guitars blister through the faster parts like they're salmon whipping down a run. I adore the guitars on this song!

Technically Waves is the shortest track on the album and I am the Cavalry, my other favourite, is the longest, but there's less than half a minute between them. I can't remember the last album I heard where that was the case! This is another bouncy pop punk song with some neat pauses that should be all over the airwaves. None of the songs here run over four minutes and everything is commercially viable and radio friendly without ever losing its punch. Well, OK, Only Enemy isn't radio friendly but there's a radio edit of it here too that is.

The worst thing about the album is easily the cover, which is simple and elegant but really doesn't say anything. I tend to dig minimalist but the band needed something more substantial for their debut.

The best thing is that the songs are so consistent that I have a feeling my favourites may change next week or next month. I've had it on repeat for most of a day and the lesser songs are getting stronger and stronger, while the more immediate ones keep showing me new depths.

I really hope that Deever find substantial radio play because every song on offer is an earworm and every one of them deserves a shot at infecting the collective country's brain. So, do you need this? Yeah, I'd say so and more than the Inglorious album too.