DEEP PURPLE – SPLAT! [Expanded +2] (2026) *HQ*

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SPLAT! (stylised in all caps) is the upcoming twenty-fourth studio album by English hard rock icons DEEP PURPLE. It is the band’s sixth collaboration with legendary producer Bob Ezrin.
Rather than simply preserving their legacy, DEEP PURPLE continue to extend it, driven by the same spirit that defined their earliest work. With SPLAT!, the band deliver their heaviest album in many years, recorded together in the studio the way Deep Purple have always recorded.
The heart of SPLAT! is an idea conceived by Ian Gillan: the album explores the end of humanity not in any crude apocalyptic sense but as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence.
SPLAT! continues to advance the economy of song that the band has been pursuing on its most recent efforts, too. All tracks are tightly constructed — nothing over five minutes and most under four — yet still manage to cover a lot of ground and give guitarist Simon McBride (his 2nd album with the band) and Don Airey plenty of room to stretch. Their back-and-forth exchanges are sharp throughout, particularly on tracks such as “Arrogant Boy,” “The Only Horse in Town,” “Guilt Trippin’,” the fleet-fingered “Jessica’s Bra” and “Third Call.”

Hammond organ is still the go-to in Airey’s arsenal, but he mixes things up more this time out, with jazzy piano licks on “The Beating of Wings” and “Guilt Trippin'” and synthesizers on “Sacred Land” and “Scriblin’ Gib’rish.” The effect is like listening to a compact incarnation of 70s favorites such as In Rock and Fireball, with an often prog-styled heaviness flavoring the hard rock drive. Paice even pounds and grooves as hard as he did 50-plus years ago and really goes to town on the surging “Third Call.”

Ian Gillan — who last year revealed he’s lost most of his vision — is in good, familiar voice, too. He hasn’t lost any of his lyrical idiosyncrasies either, whether it’s the friends-with-benefits celebration of “Third Call” or the fantastical wordscapes in “Sacred Land” and “The Beating of Wings.”
There’s no theme here per se, but Gillan does populate the songs with cautionary tales and characters falling from grace, some reflection on aging and tongue-in-cheek macho posturing (“I’m a sophisticated man with the emphasis on fist”). He also laces tracks such as “Diablo,” “The Only Horse in Town” and “Jessica’s Bra” with vivid cinematic detail. All of this speaks to a band that’s still in fierce form and decidedly in rock as it nears its 60th anniversary.
The battle is raging on — for now, and hopefully for some time to come.
Highly Recommended

01 – Arrogant Boy
02 – Diablo
03 – The Rider
04 – The Lunatic
05 – The Only Horse in Town
06 – Sacred Land
07 – The Beating of Wings
08 – Guilt Trippin’
09 – Scriblin’ Gib’rish
10 – Jessica’s Bra
11 – Third Call
12 – My New Movie
13 – Splat!
14 – Anya (Live in Dresden 2024)
15 – Portable Door (Live in Dresden 2024)

Ian Gillan – vocals
Ian Paice – drums
Roger Glover – bass
Don Airey – keyboards
Simon McBride – guitars

Pre order:
amazon.com/SPLAT-CD-Digisleeve-Deep-Purple/dp/B0GZ659N5X