Deep Purple: The Original Metal Music Machine is Back!

 

I won’t stop saying it. Bob Ezrin should have produced Lulu, the album Lou Reed released in 2011. Ezrin had already worked with Reed in 1973 on Berlin, one of the best works of his career. For Lulu, Reed teamed up with Metallica. No one was better suited than Ezrin to capture that epic sound while Reed delved into literature, poetry, sculpture, painting, film, dance, and psychology. No one better than him, who had previously collaborated with Deftones, to channel the brutal impact of that metal music machine called Metallica. Sorry, Hal Willner.

Bob Ezrin invented the sound of modern rock. His productions include legendary albums by Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Kiss, and Pink Floyd. Ezrin also produced records for Jane’s Addiction, one of the most important alternative metal bands of the 90s. To play rock today in a lasting and relevant way, you need Ezrin at the controls.

The Heavy Lifting by MC5 was an album with good songs, but a failure overall (only Wayne Kramer remained from the original band). Deep Purple, that powerful hard rock and heavy metal machine, became Ezrin’s favorite battle vehicle in recent years. Six albums in which he recovered and amplified the power of the band’s classic era: three members of the classic lineup, plus two luxury veterans, Don Airey and Steve Morse.

I believe there’s a reason for everything. SPLAT! is a great album. I listen to it because Ezrin is there as the sixth member of the band. I listen to it because Ian Gillan’s vocal performance is fabulous. He is the only one who has managed to be the lead singer in two of the greatest heavy metal bands: Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

Forget about the Rolling Stones and their latest album produced by Andrew Watt, the official geriatric hospital producer. SPLAT! is real rock, hard hitting rock. While the Stones keep resurrecting old recordings by the late Charlie Watts and leftovers from the mediocre Hackney Diamonds, Deep Purple added guitarist Simon McBride to their ranks. A youngster of just 47 years old (the rest of the band averages 79) with influences from Gary Moore, Eddie Van Halen, and Steve Vai. On “Arrogant Boy,” he makes Deep Purple sound furious with spectacular guitar work, framed by Roger Glover’s ferocious bass and Ian Paice’s relentless drums.

Is that not enough? Add Don Airey’s keyboards. “Diablo” is a perfect headbanging track with an extraordinary evocation of the band’s classic sound. “The Lunatic” is furious metal. This is a band that sounds absolutely nowhere near the end. Quite the opposite. Neither Led Zeppelin nor Black Sabbath dared to go this far in their time.

“The Only Horse in Town” is another extraordinary track, but nothing prepares you for the powerful onslaught of “Guilt Trippin’.” Ian Gillan makes it clear why he is one of the greatest vocalists in the history of hard rock and heavy metal, especially having also sung on the fantastic Born Again by Black Sabbath. SPLAT! keeps surprising. It is proof that the bag of tricks is far from empty for this incredible band.

The spotlight will surely be on the Stones and their endless musical recycling and their horrendous cover art (even worse than Born Again). Keep being wrong. The real rolling stones of hard rock are from England, but they’re called Deep Purple, one of the foundational stones of heavy metal that remains relevant with SPLAT!.