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“The band still records the way it always did: we rehearse, we practice, we get the arrangement sorted, and when the time comes, we sit in a circle in the room around the [drum] kit basically, and we have all the gear in isolation rooms around the studio and small amps there, and we just groove and play, and it feels very live.” – Ian Gillan
Judging by the hot run of form that Deep Purple have been on since 2013’s masterful ‘Now What?!’, perhaps more acts should be adopting the British rock icons’ approach? Five studio albums of new material and one of cover versions in 13 years is a decent return for any band, never mind a band that formed in 1968. It is the high quality of said output that matters the most, though, and the twenty-fourth studio album, ‘Splat!’, continues where 2024’s impressive ‘=1’ left off.
Much to admire during the near-fifty minutes that ‘Splat!’ runs for. The freshness and confidence for one. It’s also, to an extent, utterly bonkers. The Ian Gillan track-by-track that accompanies the review stream is nutty. None of the usual “Yeah, this one is about the blues…” malarkey that reeks of a label intern. No, Gillan’s tales about each track are surreal, eccentric, and full of wonderfully British humour. Hopefully, these are reproduced in the album booklet as they will raise many chuckles, especially regarding ‘The Lunatic’ (“I heard just before I went away last year [Gillan now lives in Portugal] that the NHS had banned the word ‘lunatic’, which upset me greatly because I know tons of them. So I had to write a song called ‘The Lunatic’…”)
Some great songs await the Purple faithful who come back year after year. Opening track, ‘Arrogant Boy’, is a fast-paced, instant way to open the album, and it fizzes (much like ‘Third Call’ which lands later on). The most consistent drummer in music today, Ian Paice, controls the tempo perfectly, and everything goes through him. Add a few keyboard flourishes from Don Airey, and some gorgeous guitar tones from Simon McBride, and it’s Deep Purple in a great place.
‘Diablo’ is perhaps going to be one of the tracks that gains the most column inches, as it is classic Deep Purple. Recorded at Keith Urban’s Nashville studio, it has a great groove to it, with lots of toing and froing between Airey, McBride, and Urban himself, who turned up one day during recording and sat in. ‘The Lunatic’ has a great pulse to it, mostly thanks to the ever-reliable bass licks of Roger Glover, and there is also a bit of a progressive feel here and there to Airey’s keys sound (which are majestic on ‘The Only Horse In Town’, a track that has a stellar gradual build during the intro, and some gorgeous hooky melodies).
‘Sacred Land’ is a boot-stomping epic with loads going on, and will hopefully make the live setlist, as it is a blast. As Gillan explains, “When I heard it, instantly my Scottish blood started stirring, and it sounded like bagpipes to me, so I thought we better write a bagpipe song…” McBride lets rip throughout and duels with Airey to great effect. Gillan is (as he is on the entire album) in fine voice, and you can almost hear the glint in his eye as he tells the age-old (and, sadly, all too timely) tale of two entities fighting over what they each perceive as their own sacred land, with the vicious cycle repeating itself ad nauseum.
‘The Beating of Wings’ is a slow-burning, low-key gem. McBride’s contribution is immeasurable. Dealing with Gillan struggling to pass infuriating online “tick how many boxes with a…” bollocks, ‘Scriblin’ Gib’rish’ is a hoot. Great chugging riffs from McBride, and surely everyone can identify with Gillan when he says, “I suddenly realized I was trying to prove that I was a human being to a fucking robot!” ‘My New Movie’ has an uncanny Gillan band ‘Glory Road’ feel to it, and it’s not difficult to imagine a trimmed-down version of this featuring on Top of the Pops in the early 80s.
With two years to go until their 60th anniversary, Deep Purple show no sign of slowing down, and when they are delivering albums as strong as ‘Splat!’, then why should they?
‘Splat!’ is available July 3rd via earMUSIC. More information, HERE.
Review – Dave
Portrait image – copyright earMUSIC credit Olaf Heine
Live images – Rob Wilkins Hellfest 2026
All live dates can be found HERE.
