Deep Purple - SPLAT!

Deep Purple have just released their 24th studio album, SPLAT!, which came out on July 3 via earMUSIC. It's being billed as "the heaviest Deep Purple album in many years," and from the sound of it, they mean business.

The concept, dreamed up by Ian Gillan, is classic Purple – provocative and strangely philosophical. Rather than a crude apocalypse, SPLAT! imagines the end of humanity as a metamorphosis, a transformation beyond physical existence. Leave it to Gillan to find poetry in the mess.

Musically, the band is leaning hard into what made them legends. Gillan himself puts it bluntly: "Now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with 'Highway Star,' 'Smoke on the Water,' 'Lazy' – the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from '69 to '73". That's a bold claim, but coming from a band that's sold over 120 million albums, it carries weight.

This is the second album with guitarist Simon McBride, who stepped in for Steve Morse in 2022, and the sixth consecutive collaboration with producer Bob Ezrin, the man behind the board for Pink Floyd, KISS, and Alice Cooper. The rhythm section of Roger Glover and Ian Paice remains the engine room, and Don Airey continues to channel the spirit of Jon Lord on keys. The guest list even includes country star Keith Urban on guitar for "Diablo".

The album is out now. If this is the sound of a band facing the end of humanity, we say bring it on.