Deep and Purple: Deep Purple return to the roots

Deep Purple talk about the transformation of humanity, complain about captchas and try to return the sound to the "golden" period of the early 1970s. The new album of the legendary rockers "Splat!" turned out to be heavier than most of the previous ones: the bass guitar and drums are brought to the fore here. The age of the musicians is felt only by Ian Gillan's vocals: in his 80s, he increasingly turns to declamation and does not even try to play high notes. However, this is unlikely to be a problem for the band's fans. Izvestia couldn't get past the record either.

New people

Deep Purple's career over the past two decades has been the epitome of stability. The scandals with the departure and return of the main figures (guitarist Richie Blackmore, vocalist Ian Gillan, keyboardist John Lord) remained in the last century, and at the beginning of the "noughties" the line-up stabilized: from the "golden" five, who once created Smoke On The Water, Child In Time, Highway Star and other super hits, there remained three, Don Airy firmly took the place of Lord, and Steve Morse played guitar until 2022.

Alas, the latter dropped out for family reasons (due to his wife's illness), but by that time the style had already stabilized so much that the arrival of a relatively young Simon McBride could hardly upset the balance. And the three veterans are still in the ranks. McBride's studio debut in Deep Purple took place in 2024, in an album called "=1". And, according to critics, it turned out very well. But less than two years later, a new record arrived: now you can no longer talk about whether McBride fit in or not, but about music as such.

Overall, "Splat!" repeats the line of the previous disc, bringing the band's sound back to the 1970s era. And although there are prog-rock inclusions in some places (for example, in the initial composition of Arrogant Boy), the musicians are clearly betting on something else. This is especially noticeable in the second Diablo track with a hard bass riff — something like this could well have appeared in the days of Machine Head. By the way, a curious detail: Deep Purple recorded the song, which turns out to be an anthem of risk and adventure, with the participation of country star Keith Urban, who recently dramatically changed his life and broke up with Nicole Kidman. But it's unlikely that his guitar will be recognized here without listening on purpose.

At the same time, Gillan and his colleagues avoid long compositions with extensive guitar or keyboard solos (although, of course, laconic and very virtuosic instrumental interludes, primarily performed by McBride, are found in almost every issue). The longest track here is less than five minutes, but most of the songs fit into the standard radio format of 3-4 minutes. And this is rather a plus, because listening to the CD is not boring. There is plenty of variety and musical ideas, including very unusual ones.

For example, in My New Movie, in Don Airy's solo, a quote from Bach suddenly flashes for just a few seconds, Guild Trippin’ begins with an almost academic piano intro, which develops into hard hard rock, almost trash metal, in the chorus a little reminiscent of Led Zeppelin Kashmir. And yet, despite such tricks, this work is definitely not experimental. She's really old-fashioned. So, for example, the title track of Splat!, the final album, does not have any signs of modernity in the sound at all. It's just Deep Purple, nothing more and nothing less.

Horses and people

In this regard, the number of The Only Horse in Town seems symbolic: Gillan sings that he found himself in an abandoned motel, from where everyone left, and even the gypsies, having stolen almost everything and leaving only a skinny ancient nag (yes, Deep Purple allowed themselves to be outright politically incorrect). "I look at the horse, and she looks at me, / And almost immediately it is clear: / we understand each other. / We've been through the millstones, / The last few years have been a continuous uphill climb." But the post-apocalyptic picture of the deserted city turns out not to be gloomy at all; on the contrary, it is filled with wise calm.

Here you can recall the saying "an old horse will not spoil the furrow", thinking about Deep Purple themselves, or you can see in this image a metaphor for the modern world, where only such seasoned fighters like Gillan and his friends can feel comfortable.

In general, from the point of view of verbal images, "Splat!" is no worse than in terms of music. And The Only Horse in Town is not the only philosophical statement. The band notes that this CD is about the transformation of humanity. But do not think that we are talking about senile grumbling — they say, the grass used to be greener.

Gillan, of course, scolds some of the signs of our time, for example, complains that he cannot make out the captcha on websites ("all these traffic lights, motorcycles and steps"), and hints at the ubiquitous AI, which is nonsense. But still, the band (in which two musicians are already over 80 and one is 78) is full of optimism and even some youthful hooliganism. So, one of the songs is called "Jessica's Bra" and describes a bar with a typo in the sign: instead of Jessica's Bar, it says Jessica's Bra. And from the enthusiasm with which Gillan describes the game going on there, it is clear that he has not lost his taste for life.

This vitality is perhaps the main trump card of "Splat!". And it's clearly not about the wonders of Bob Erzin's production (he's been working with Deep Purple for 13 years) or even the fresh powers of Simon McBride. And in that endless source of drive, which, apparently, is hidden in the very style of Deep Purple. Well, there are three tireless grandfathers who are not going to slow down the pace that was once taken and sung in Highway Star.