Superlatives are typically thrown around when veteran bands release new albums. In fact, Deep Purple did it themselves, calling ‘Splat!’ their heaviest album in a long time. Whether that is actually true is in the ear of the beholder, but since ‘Splat!’ is one of their harder-rocking and most focused albums in a while, there certainly is more to it than promotional platitudes. The three singles released prior to the album are punchy, riff-centered rockers, and they represent the album fairly well. If you gave up on Deep Purple along the way, ‘Splat!’ might be the right album to get reacquainted with them.

One thing I would like to emphasize is that Deep Purple never really lost it. Sure, Ian Gillan’s voice has had a nasal, whiny tone since the mid-eighties that occasionally grates, and I can see how Steve Morse‘s playful, creative guitar work on the band’s mid-nineties-to-2020 run would rub Ritchie Blackmore purists the wrong way, but none of their post-‘Perfect Strangers’ output has been bad. The eighties hard rock and heavy metal background of guitarist Simon McBride, for whom ‘Splat!’ is his second original recording with the band, just gave Deep Purple a shot of energy that I didn’t know they still had in them.

Compared to the albums with Morse, both ‘Splat!’ and its 2024 predecessor ‘=1’ are a little more tightly arranged and produced. Where the likes of ‘Infinite’ (2017) and ‘Whoosh!’ (2020) at times sounded like the songs were compiled from jam sessions, the material on ‘Splat!’ mostly feels tightly composed and intentional, with only the solo sections feeling a bit more loose and open. And even the solos by McBride and keyboard player Don Airey are fairly melodic in nature. This sense of focus is also reflected in the song lengths, with only four of the album’s thirteen songs passing the four-minute mark, and none being longer than five minutes.

To be fair, thirteen songs is a bit much. But it speaks volumes that I would not know which ones to cut. My favorites include the fiery prog-light of ‘Sacred Land’, the vintage Purple ‘The Lunatic’ – that 7/8, vaguely Arabic bridge melody is probably my favorite moment on the album – and the more subdued blues rock of ‘The Beating of Wings’. The way ‘Splat!’ kicks off is fantastic at well, with the pure, unadulterated heavy metal of ‘Arrogant Boy’ and the heavy blues shuffle of ‘Diablo’ perfectly setting the stage for about fifty minutes of excellent rock music.

‘Splat!’ features a band in great shape. This may be Ian Gillan’s finest vocal performance in ages, which given the fact that he turns 81 next month is nothing short of impressive. At 78, sole remaining original member Ian Paice is still one of the greatest – and frankly still most underrated – rock drummers in the world, and he is definitely the MVP here along with Airey and McBride. A good Deep Purple album needs powerful rhythms, memorable guitar riffs, screaming Hammond organs, some spirited solo duels, and a few good choruses. ‘Splat!’ has all of those in spades.

Recommended tracks: ‘The Lunatic’, ‘Sacred Land’, ‘Arrogant Boy’