It’s incredible how often these British legends release albums these days. This pace is the same as it was in the ’90s, thirty years ago, that is. “Splat!” is their fourth release since 2020, even though “Turning To Crime” (2021) was a cover album, and personally, I think it’s their best. Perhaps sensing that the end of their glorious career is approaching, they’re drawing more inspiration, even if they officially deny it. According to Gillan, it seems to be a concept about what lies beyond the end of humanity, beyond human existence. Deep Purple seem to be returning to their roots, releasing their most rock and roll album in decades, an album characterized as much by… Simon McBride’s driving drumming as by melodies with classic Deep Purple traits. “Arrogant Boy,” “The Rider,” and “The Only Horse In Town” confirm, I think, the view expressed above, and could have achieved a great deal if the times and circumstances had allowed it. Perhaps McBride is the main reason why “Splat!” sounds more like Deep Purple than the band did during the era of “The Battle Rages On.” But these aren’t the only characteristics of “Splat!” The blues elements found in “The Beating Of Wings,” the melodic rock ’n’ roll vibe of “Guilt Trippin’,” and the rock ’n’ roll boogie of “Jessica’s Bra” round out the picture of a thoroughly complete and cohesive album.
“Splat!” could, in other times and under different circumstances, I repeat, go down in history as a classic Deep Purple album, embodying the aesthetic that made the legendary band world famous and I write this fully aware that there’s no way I can convince the band’s detractors of this without Ritchie Blackmore.
I don’t know if “Splat!” will be Deep Purple’s swan song; at this stage in their lives, time is always against them. If it turns out to be so, Deep Purple will have brought their creative cycle to a close in the best possible way. But if there’s still fuel in the tank and inspiration like there is here, then yes, of course, music will always need them.
